Sunflowers of Inferno
by bobbyneko
Summary: For those who can't wait to see the movie. A translation of the 2015 Detective Conan movie: Gouka no Himawari. Major Spoiler Alerts (obviously) and Kaitou KID goodness!
1. Chapter 1

**Important Disclaimer** : The Detective Conan franchise does not belong to me. This is not my story, ideas, or words. This is merely an amateur translation done for recreational purposes. I am in no way profiting financially from this nor do I intend to. I encourage everyone in the world to purchase this novel and the official English translation when it comes out on sale, as well as encourage all to see the film and purchase the movie when that's available to support everyone who is involved in the production of this franchise.

 **Translator's Notes** : This is an amateur translation of the novelized version of the latest Detective Conan Movie, Gouka no Himawari. I am not an experienced translator. My aim was to be as accurate and loyal to the original words as possible without noticeably obstructing clear comprehension of the content. I honestly don't think I succeeded completely in this, so I would greatly appreciate constructive criticism.

I did keep the page numbers and line breaks the same as in the book for easy reference. It makes for a little bit of awkward reading at times though, just to warn you.

Right now I have three chapters translated. There are ten total and my goal is to complete them by the time it comes out on DVD or online (September or so).

Anyways, consider this a teaser for the movie when it's finally released online. As it is the novel version, some dialogue, scenes, and scene orders may differ from the movie version. Also, fyi for those who saw and gushed over the trailers on Youtube, there are some scenes that showed up in the trailers that were not in the movie. Maybe they were deleted or something? ;_; Maybe they will show up in the book?

Lastly, needless to say, **Major Spoiler Alerts**. Read at your own peril!

* * *

 **Summary**

A painting was discovered in Arles, France, and put up for auction. This painting appeared to be nearly identical to one of Vincent Van Goh's _Sunflowers_ , specifically speaking, the _Ashiya's_ _Sunflowers_ , which was said to have disappeared. Sonoko's uncle, Jirokichi, also the Consultant of the Suzuki Financial Group, succeeded in obtaining this painting. That night he declared to all that he intended to open an exhibition in Japan that would display all seven of Van Goh's _Sunflowers_. Right then Kaitou KID appeared, causing great mayhem at the auction site! However, as KID merely flew about the building before vanishing, Conan begins to harbor suspicions. Afterwards, a notice from KID arrives at Kogoro's doorstep! Just what is KID's aim!?

* * *

 **Sunflowers of Inferno**

 _Written by Mizuki Shima_

 _Original Creation by Aoyama Gosho_

 _Script Written by Sakurai Takeharu_

 _Translated by bobbyneko_

 **Prologue:**

[10]

I am Kudou Shinichi, a high school detective.

When I went to an amusement park with my childhood friend, Ran, I witnessed a suspicious deal being carried out by men dressed in black.

I was so absorbed in watching them that I didn't notice another guy come up from behind me. The man force-fed me a poison. When I came to – I found that my body had been shrunk!

If those guys discover that "Kudou Shinich" is still alive, they may come after me again and put the people around me in danger. So I decided to follow the advice of Professor Agasa and hide my identity.

In the spur of the moment I told Ran that my name was "Edogawa Conan," and in order to gain information on the men in black, I found myself living with her and her father at their detective agency.

By the way there are some people other than Professor Agasa who are aware of my identity.

Haibara Ai. Her real name is Miyano Shiho.

She used to be part of the same group as the men in black, and she was actually the one who developed the poison that was fed to me: the Apotoxin 4869. However, Haibara's only sister was killed by the organization and to rebel against them she attempted to kill herself by taking that very poison. But like me her body shrunk, and she went to live with Professor Hakase.

And then there are two more who know my true identity: The Phantom Thief Kid and his assistant.

I have yet to bring them down, but I swear on my name of Detective, I will catch them!

With a small body, but the mind of an adult! A great detective who leaves no case unsolved! There is always one truth!

 **1**

[12-13]

Arles; a small town in western region of Provence, France.

This old town is surrounded by vast fields of countless sunflowers. At one time, the painter Vincent Van Gogh immigrated to this town and there he created several great works of art.

Bathed in light as far as the eye can see, an endless carpet of sunflowers open their petals to the sunlight.

Within the huge bed of sunflowers stretched a small path where a single car was passing through, its tires wobbling harshly. From that unpaved road was a trail of fallen sunflowers zig-zagging away. Red spots continuously dotted the ground there.

At the end of that path lied a man. Like the sunflowers he was facing the sun. His breathing was rough and there was a large red stain in the middle of his chest. As his consciousness was dimming, he exerted the last of his strength; he gripped his gun and pointed it at the sun. Blood ran from his mouth and he let out a small breath, tightening his finger on the trigger.

Bang! The dull sound of a gunshot echoed and at once the crows all took flight.

About the fields of sunflowers that glowed like the sun itself, these countless crows soared in the sky.

The sight closely resembled what was said to be Gogh's posthumous work: _Wheatfield with Crows._

"We like Japanese painting, we have felt its influence, all the impressionists have that in common; then why not go to Japan, that is to say to the equivalent of Japan, the South?"

 _(Vincent Van Gogh, Letter 500)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Please see first chapter.

 **Translator's note:** Sorry for the wait, I forgot to post the update last week lol. And I haven't even started to translate the fourth chapter...oops. I'll hurry, really! But each chapter is getting longer and longer ;

Thank you reviewers and followers! Even though this is a bunch of spoilers, I'm sure you will be just as excited to see the movie when it comes out. The novel doesn't contain many details at all, so it will be a totally different experience and much more fun I think.

On to the second chapter!

* * *

 **2**

 **[14-15]**

New York, America.

Even amongst Manhattan, a city bristling with super high-rise buildings, there stood out an exceptionally tall skyscraper - the One World Trade Center. Within this tower the press and bidders were gathered together excitedly at the site of an auction.

"Continuing on, we now bring you one of today's most eye-catching pieces!"

The sound of the auctioneer's hammer rang out through the hall.

"Thought to have been lost. The internationally renowned masterpiece. A true treasure of mankind - We bring you Vincent Van Gogh's _Sunflowers_!"

With a wave of the auctioneer's hand, the spotlight flicked on to the wall. The curtains covering the masterpiece were drawn. As the _Sunflowers_ was revealed, commotion swept through the bidders and press alike.

"What, the _Sunflowers_!?"

"Well, it's true that one of the _Sunflowers_ was thought to have been burned during the war…"

The flash of the reporter's cameras were intense from edges of where the animated bidders sat.

"Everyone please quite down! We will now have a detailed explanation of the painting." Once the audience was silenced, the auctioneer turned to the Van Gogh specialist. The specialist nodded and cleared his throat, bringing himself closer to the microphone.

"It is said that when Van Gogh lived in Arles, he painted seven different ' _Sunflowers_.'"

The woman sitting next to the specialist used her computer to bring up a picture of six of the seven _Sunflowers_ in the chronological order they were painted in. Most of the _Sunflowers_ were similar in that they merely depicted sunflowers sitting in a vase. They varied in that there were either three, twelve, or fifteen sunflowers in each vase with differing background colors ranging from blues, greens, and yellows.

On the projected screen a new _Sunflowers_ appeared between the first and the third painting. In this picture there were three sunflowers sitting in a vase, and two more having fallen to the ground. A close-up of the painting was brought up.

"The _Sunflowers_ up for auction now is known as the second of Van Goh's _Sunflowers_ series. This particular _Sunflowers_ was said to have been destroyed by the flames of war in Ashiya, Japan. However, a painting with the same layout was re-discovered in Arles last year. While it has yet to be confirmed whether this painting was a new work or a replica, it is for certain that it was painted by Vincent Van Gogh."

There was a stir in the crowd at the specialist's explanation. English, Chinese, Arabian, and every other language of the world could be heard throughout the hall. Some were taking out their phones, others were typing quickly on their computers.

In the midst of where the reporters were standing, a young man wearing a "PRESS" armband was kneeling with one knee on the ground.

 **[16-17]**

The man glanced up; a familiar eye peeked through from under his hat that was pulled low down on his head.

"Now, everyone, it's time to infuse new life into this _Sunflower._ We bring you the Phantom Painting, Vincent Van Goh's _'Second Sunflower'_!" The auctioneer spread out his arms wide and all at once the bidders picked up their paddles.

"Let's start the bid from 10 million dollars! (about 1 billion yen). Those who would like to purchase this, please raise your paddles!"

Meanwhile, in downtown New York at an intersection known as "Times Square," a large number of people were watching auction displayed on a giant monitor in a hub of bright neon signs.

On the monitor, the bidders were raising their paddles one after another continually increasing the base price.

" _$10,100,000!"_

" _$10,200,000!"_

"Are you kidding me? They're starting from _$10 million!?_ "

"Check it out, they're raising the price in intervals of _$100,000s_."

"Man, if _I_ had that kind of money I'd go on a trip to space."

The people gathered in front of the monitor watched with wide eyes at the exorbitant amount of money being offered at the broadcasted auction.

"We got $16 million over here! $17 million! I hear $18 million-"the auctioneer announced from his platform as the bidders continued to raise their paddles. Then, "Ah, just a moment please," he looked to the side at a staff member who was receiving bids by the phone and internet.

"Just now we've got a bid for $20 million by phone, and $25 million by net!"

Just then, a white man wearing numerous luxurious rings on his fingers raise his left hand, "$50 million!" he shouted. His flustered assistant sitting next to him quickly raised the paddle. The sudden increase had the other bidders in the room turning around to look at him.

"Hey, it's _that_ guy."

"Oh yeah, that guy who's buying all the famous works he can get his hands on."

"Go figure, right?"

"I guess it's decided who's going to get the painting."

For a moment there were no more rising paddles. The white man looked rather satisfied with himself as he listened to the people murmur around him. Right at that moment, however, a voice shouted out from the back of the hall.

"$100 million!"

With this giant leap in price, all the bidders –including the white man- spun around. Sitting in the very last row wearing a black crested kimono sat an elderly Japanese gentleman. The man was the Suzuki Financial Group Consultant, Suzuki Jirokichi.

 **[18-19]**

"Did you not hear me? 100 million! 100 million dollars I tell you!"

Sitting next to him was Suzuki Sonoko. She raised their paddle numbered '705' while chuckling nervously to herself.

"A-and now suddenly we have a bid for 100 million dollars!"

Stir started amongst the audience as the press turned their cameras back toward Jirokichi. The young man mixed in with the press from before grinned.

"$110 million- anyone for 110 million dollars!?" At the sound of the auctioneer's voice, paddles began to raise again.

"$110 million!"

"$120 million!"

The white man who had made a bid of 50 million dollars glared at Jirokichi. As the bid was rising from 153 million to 154 million dollars, his assistant sitting next to him asked, "What should we do?"

"Oh well. We might as well start this battle from 200 million then."

"…Yes, sir." But right at that moment-

"$200 million!" Jirokichi's voice once again rang out.

"Huh?" Surprised, Sonoko quickly raised their paddle.

The auctioneer stared.

"Um…if I'm not mistaken Number 705 would like to bid $200 million…" as he said this, the auctioneer typed '705' into the panel in front of him and pressed the enter key. Upon seeing Jirokichi's data, the auctioneer's expression changed. _So_ _ **he's**_ _the famous Mister Suzuki…!_

Because of the sudden leap in price, the staff member dealing with phone and online bids had difficulty keeping up.

"Due to the abrupt increase, the phone and internet bidders are unable to keep up. Please wait a short moment."

The other bidders in the auction hall continued to stare at Jirokichi and Sonoko without saying anything. Even though hugely wealthy people from around the world had gathered, none of them could so easily put up that kind of money.

Sonoko looked nervously around at the other bidders, "Hey, Uncle, everyone's dropping out already. Shouldn't we try to draw it out and enjoy the auction a little more…?" She whispered to Jirokichi.

"Nonsense. I am a master at managing my shopping time."

"You call this shopping…?" She tried to smile out of consideration for those around them.

Suddenly Jirokichi stood up, "Come on, there's no need to wait for the internet!"

Again at the sound of his voice, all the other bidders turned to look at him. The glasses of the surprised auctioneer began to slide off his face.

 **[20]**

The young man mixed in with the reporters continued to grin. He let out a small laugh and quietly stood up to leave his spot.

"…300 million."

"Eh?" Sonoko squeaked at her smirking uncle's declaration.

"I _said_ , 300 million dollars!"

Immediately the auctioneer struck his hammer three times.

"Hammer Price! Hammer Price! This product is sold at 300 million dollars!"

"Whoa…!" came cries throughout the hall as the cameras of the newsmen and women flashed furiously from the sidelines.

"For an unprecedented, enormously high price, Mister Suzuki is the successful bidder. Everyone, please give a round of applause!" announced the auctioneer.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Jirokichi laughed loudly. He smugly folded his arms at the resounding applause.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the wait! I put this off waaay too long. Good new is chapter 4 is almost finish and chapter 5 ain't that long. Dunno if Im gonna make my deadline, but I'll try!

Aaannnd Kaito Kid makes his appearance! Hooray! And so does someone else hehehehe.

Please enjoy! And lemme know where some parts are confusing to understand.

" _italics" =_ Dialogue _s_ poken on the TV

* * *

 **3**

As they had just started summer break, Conan and his friends were hanging out at Professor Agasa's house.

Conan was sitting on the living room couch watching the TV as the news of the extravagant purchase by Jirokichi of the _Sunflowers_ was announced.

" _Before we get to the interview with Suzuki Jirokichi, let us have an explanation by an expert on exactly what kind of masterpiece the_ Sunflowers _is."_

As Conan was watching the news, Ayumi called out to him, "Conan-kun, it's about to start!"

"Hurry, hurry!"

At her call, Conan stood from his spot on the couch. In the center-front of the kitchen area, Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Haibara were surrounding Professor Agasa's latest invention. It was a square-ish machine that came up to about Professor Agasa's chest height. It had a robot-like face and a triangular monitor under two circles to its side. Under the monitor was a big square door that looked like a giant mouth. Professor Agasa opened the lid on top of the machine.

 **[22-23]**

" _So why has this great work of art not seen the light of day until just recently?"_

The sound of the announcer's voice had Conan turning back to the TV. The _Sunflowers_ that Jirokichi had successfully purchased was being shown on the screen. Next to the picture of the painting the announcer and a commentator were sitting side by side.

" _That is because this work was said to have been burned to ashes during WWII."_

" _It was burned!?"_ The announcer started at the commentator's words, _"So that means this piece of artwork is a fake…?"_

" _No, actually. It was only_ _ **said**_ _to have been destroyed."_

" _In other words…"_

By this point, Conan had stopped walking completely and turned towards to TV.

" _Please have a look at this."_ The commentator said before showing a flip board with a newspaper article attached to it.

" _This is from last year's news so some may remember it, but last year in France a painting that was said to have been done by Vincent Van Gogh was found in the town of Arles."_

" _Oh, that's right,"_ said the announcer, _"I remember there being talk about something found in the attic of an old private house."_

" _Yes. That something was the_ Sunflowers."

On the article written in large letters was the headline: 'Van Gogh's Sunflowers Supposed to Have Been Burned in Japan, Found! Is it a Counterfeit!? A New Masterpiece!?' Below that was a picture of southern France's rural landscape. In the middle of the field shown in the picture was a solitary cottage.

"Okay, we're starting!"

Conan turned back around to see Professor Agasa holding a giant watermelon. Although he was still interested in the news, Conan went to join the others.

Professor Agasa put the watermelon inside the machine. The lid closed automatically and once he pressed a button on the side, the machine began to make rattling noises. The children looked on with excitement.

"I wonder if grilled eel will come out?" Genta asked.

Mitsuhiro raised an eyebrow at his friend, "That's clearly impossible," he said. Right then Professor Agasa let loose a big smile.

"Well, in some ways it may be better than grilled eel."

"You serious?" exclaimed Genta.

"This is so exciting!" said Ayumi.

"Yeah!" Mitsuhiko agreed.

From behind the enthusiastic children, Conan continued to keep an ear out for the news report.

" _It's been said that throughout his life Van Gogh only ever sold one painting, and the rest were given to people or families that he had some connection with. For that reason, there are many who believe it wouldn't be too strange if a new work of his were to be suddenly found."_

" _But isn't there still a possibility it could be a counterfeit?"_

At the announcer's question, Conan unthinkingly turned back to the TV.

 **(24-25)**

" _The experts are also very cautious about that_ _ **.**_ _When the painting was put up at the auction, it underwent a strict appraisal._ _ **"**_

As the commentator said this, the picture on the screen changed from showing the studio to footage of _Second Sunflower_ being examined closely by appraisers.

The camera magnified in on the edge of the canvas as it would be appear when separated from its frame. Then it lined it up to the edge of the canvas of Van Gogh's _The Night Cafe_ **,** painted in September of the year 1888. In doing so it showed that the canvases of the two paintings fit perfectly together.

" _As a result, we can see that this painting was drawn on the same canvas that Van Gogh used for his other works that he painted while living in Arles."_

Conan heard a beeping sound and turn back towards the machine. It had ceased its movements and the word "COMPLETE" was displayed on the triangular monitor.

"So when you said 'better than grilled eel,' did you mean that it would be supersized?" asked Genta.

"How is it that you come to _that_ conclusion?" As Mitsuhiro gave Genta a disgusted look, the mouth-shaped door of Agasa's invention opened.

"Ah! Here it is!"

The children peeked through the opening with shining eyes. What they found was the perfectly round watermelon, not at all changed from whence it was first put in the machine.

"Huh…?"

"It's still just a watermelon…"commented Mitsuhiko.

"Aw come on, don't tell me it's _another_ failure!?" complained Genta.

At the children's disappointment, Professor Agasa proudly stroked his mustache, "Ha! The fun starts from here."

Just as he said that they heard a slight creaking sound as numerous cracks began to run through the giant fruit. Then all at once the wholesome watermelon fell apart and from its inside appeared a perfectly-shaped watermelon Kamen Yaiba figure.

"Whoa!"

"No way!"

"It's Kamen Yaiba!"

The children exclaimed excitedly at seeing masterfully detailed Kamen Yaiba, down to his wind-blown scarf and even his gloves.

"This!? How did…?" Mitsuhiko asked in wonder.

"Hmp, it's a trade secret. Ha ha ha!" Professor Agasa replied with a loud laugh. Conan, looking at the Kamen Yaiba from behind the other kids, dropped his shoulder in a _go figure_ kind of way.

 _What are you doing, Professor….Aren't there other things you could be making?_ He thought.

"It looks delicious! Let's eat it!" Genta exclaimed.

 **(26-27)**

"We shouldn't," proclaimed Mistuhiko, "It'd be such a waste."

Ayumi agreed, "Yeah, let's wait until after we've taken a picture!"

" _So then_ Ashiya's Sunflowers _was a counterfeit!?"_

As the kids were enthusing over the invention, Conan's attention was once again brought back to the TV by the announcer's voice. He walked back over to it and sat on the sofa.

" _Well, the possibility is certainly there. But then, there is the new theory that Van Gogh drew not seven, but eight_ Sunflowers. _"_

"Huh…" Conan let out unthinkingly, intrigued as it was his first time hearing this theory.

" _And what's the reasoning behind that?" The announcer asked._

" _The theory is that either the_ Sunflowers _that the Suzuki Group has obtained from this auction_ _or_ _the_ Ashiya's Sunflowers _that was burned in Japan seventy years ago is a repetition that Van Gogh himself painted."_

As the commentator was explaining this, the _Ashiya's Sunflower_ which was being displayed on the monitor split into two, totaling eight _Sunflowers_ lined up in their chronological order.

" _Wait, do artists really make copies of their own paintings?" asked the announcer._

" _Well yes. Already of the seven known_ Sunflowers _ **,**_ _three of them have repetitions, yet all of them were painted by Van Gogh himself."_

Larger images of the seventh _Sunflowers_ , which contained twelve flowers in a vase, the fifth _Sunflower_ that had fifteen flowers, and the sixth with five flowers were brought up on the screen.

" _In any case, as the_ Sunflower _from the auction today appears to be a genuine work of Van Gogh, I'm sure with further examination on it we will learn more about its this topic."_

Haibara, carrying a bowl of cut watermelon, approached Conan who was still staring intently at the TV.

"While Van Gogh is all fine and good, why don't you try to have a little more interest in the Professor's work as well? It's also quite the masterpiece you know." She said lightly.

"Well, for once his invention seems to be pretty popular," Conan replied looking back at the kids taking a picture with the watermelon Kamen Yaiba. Noticing this, Professor Agasa gave him the peace sign.

Haibara set the bowl of watermelon on the coffee table and sat on the sofa across from Conan.

" _Ah"_ The announcer on the TV said quietly after apparently having received direction from the staff.

" _It appears that the interview is about to start. Let's turn it over to our correspondents who will be broadcasting the interview live from New York."_

The TV display switched from the studio to the auction center. Having seemingly just finished setting the equipment up, the TV camera view hurriedly flitted left and right a little before centering in on Jirokichi and Sonoko. On Jirokichi's side was the MC while next to Sonoko there stood an American man wearing a suit and glasses.

"Alright then, let's hear a few comments from Mr. Suzuki Jirokichi who masterfully came in to possession of the _Sunflowers._ "

 **(28-29)**

"Yes."

As Jirokichiki came forward to the microphone, the flashes from the press cameras increased dramatically.

"Well, first of all, I am very pleased to say that I have succeeded in purchasing the painting at the highest price in history, just as planned."

"Wha-?" At his words, the MC's eyes widened in surprise.

"You mean to say that you had _planned_ to spend 300 million dollars on today's auction piece?"

While most of the press reporters looked quite surprised, there was one among them who, for some reason, merely grinned. This young man had a cap drawn down over his eyes.

"That's right! It's all for the sake of my plan to open an exhibition in Japan for all of the _Sunflowers_ series _."_

"Exhibition…?"

Sonoko looked at her uncle, nodded, then took a step forward.

"The Suzuki Group would like to take this opportunity to announce our plan to collect all of the _Sunflower_ paintings depicting flower vases that are scattered across the world. We plan to showcase them in what we've titled 'Japan's Beloved _Sunflowers_ Exhibition" in the Lake Rock Observatory."

There was a stir amongst the press once they had heard the bold statement, causing a slight uproar.

Even Conan, sitting in front of the TV couldn't hide his surprise. No matter how prominent the Suzuki group was globally, it just didn't seem feasible for them to gather all of the _Sunflowers_ that were owned by various museums or were in the private possession of owners throughout the world!

"Miss Suzuki!" Back on the TV, the reporters began to focus their questions on Sonoko.

"When you say 'all of the _Sunflowers,'_ exactly how many are we talking here?"

"You mean today's _Sunflower_ is merely just one of those!?"

Sonoko nodded, "Yes."

"Everything was set up so that we would be able to make our announcement today at this auction hall. Including today's piece, the total number of _Sunflowers_ we plan to gather is seven."

"All _seven_!?"

"Even for a Japanese plutocracy, isn't that impossible!?"

Jirokichi opened his mouth to cut the press off.

"Don't worry, the project is already proceeding smoothly."

He looked at Sonoko, who smiled brightly.

"We've already declared to the museums and individuals across the world in possession of the _Sunflowers_ that we would like to exhibit them together in our museum."

"Having today successfully obtained the _Sunflower_ at this auction, we have received definite promises of cooperation from these museums and individuals -"

"- Furthermore!

Jirokichi raised the five fingers of his left hand, as well as the pointer and middle finger of his right.

"With the help of seven specialists, I guarantee the upmost in transportation and security."

"Seven specialists…?"

"Indeed." Jirokichi nodded to the MC's inquiry.

 **(30-31)**

"They are the Seven Samurai I've gathered for this very day!"

Jirokichi turned to the side and waved his right arm. At his cue, five men and women streamed onto the platform. They lined up next to the American standing by Sonoko. The MC pointed his microphone towards Jirokichi.

"Are these people your Seven Samurai?"

"Indeed! They are the Vincent Van Gogh experts who have studied and worked in his birthplace, the Netherlands, and in Van Gogh's beloved France. They are the cream of the crop!"

As Jirokichi said this, he turned to look at the faces of the gathered men and women.

"From the left we have the art historian and head appraiser, Miss Miyadai Natsumi."

"It is nice to meet you" said Natsumi with a deep bow. She wore glasses andhad long straight hair bundled in the back.

"Another art specialist and head of reparation, preservation, and management, we have Azuma Kouji." The man wearing a suit and a five o'clock shadow nodded.

"Next we have Miss Keiko Anderson, who's in charge of planning the exhibition." With her hair up and a suit that emphasized and flattered her body line, Keiko gave a winning smile.

"The director of shipping and conveyance, Mr. Ishimine Daisou."

"I'm Ishimine," the man nodded his balding head. Compared to the other specialists, he appeared to be a bit older.

"Next is the _Sunflowers'_ exhibit's direct supervisor, Miss Kishi Kumiko."

"I swear we will make this exhibition a success." The woman with short hair wearing a bluish-purple suit smiled confidently.

"Lastly, in cooperation with the New York Police department, we have Inspector Charlie in charge of security." At Jikrokichi's introduction, the white man standing next to Sonoko gently pushed up his glasses.

"I will protect the _Sunflowers_ " he said.

The press turned their cameras toward the specialists and took their pictures altogether. The MC turned his head to Jirokichi, "Um…"

"Just now you mentioned Seven Samurai, but it seems that there are only _six_ people standing here…"

"Hmph, the last one will join us after we return to Japan. He is a necessary personnel for security. The name of this man is: Mouri Kogoro!"

Once the name left Jirokichi's lips, Conan's eyes widened in surprise, "!"

"Who would've thought the seventh man would be Occhan….."

Haibara rested her hands on her chin and glanced at Conan. "I wonder if it isn't because he's actually getting the KID Killer in the deal as well?"

"Huh?"

 **(32-33)**

"Good luck, Mr. Kikuchiyo."

At being referred to as the seventh samurai from the movie, _The Seven Samurai_ , Conan raised his eyebrow. Just then from behind them came Ayumi's voice, "Ah! Wow!"

"Sonoko-oneechan's on TV!"

"You're right!" said Mitsuhiko.

"Show me! Show me!" demanded Genta.

The children came to the sofa carrying bowls overloaded with watermelons.

On the TV, it seemed that the MC was unaware of the name Kogoro, "And this Mister Kogoro is…?" he held out the mic to Jirokichi.

"Oh, I guess it'd be easier for you to recognize if I said 'The Sleeping Kogoro.'"

"Ah! You mean that famous detective! _That_ Mister Kogoro!?"

"Yes. For my _Sunflowers_ exhibit I have truly gathered the best for every position!"

At Jirokichi's bold statement, the MC opened his mouth, "Well, in the worst case scenario…"

"If you weren't able to gather all seven paintings, would you still put the _Sunflowers_ that you purchased today on display?"

"Nonsense, it would have to be all seven!"

"But that may be….."

"Don't worry!" Cutting off the MC, Jirokichi cringed and glared in front of him. "This _Sunflowers_ exhibition has long since been one of my dreams. And for myself, there is no dream that I cannot achieve!"

Jirokichi laughed haughtily. Right then out of nowhere a single card came flying through. With a great force it struck and stuck to the floor directly in front of Jirokichi's eyes.

It was a pure white card on which there was a single illustration of a character wearing a white hat and a monocle.

"This- Could it be!?"

At seeing the familiar card, Sonoko's cheeks flushed pink. Next to her Jirokichi's expression hardened.

"Ki…It's a KID card!"

"What!?" As the specialists exclaimed in surprise, Charlie quickly acted and scouted the area. Then, from within the midst of the pressmen, a single man wearing a cap and carrying a gun walked forward.

"Who is that guy!?" "He's carrying a gun!" "Call the police!" came shouts from the people in the auction hall.

Jirokichi stepped in front of Sonoko protectively. Charlie stepped out in front of them and pointed his gun.

"Don't move! Drop the gun!"

The young man carrying the gun stopped and lifted one hand to the bill of his cap.

 **(34-35)**

"Did you not hear me!? I said hurry and drop the gun!"

The press people were panicking and scattering to the left and right, leaving only the cameras as they were. The young man very slowly began to lift his arms.

"Hmph" with a grin, his right hand carrying the gun pulled the trigger. From the mouth of the gun a wire shot out and just as it sunk into the ceiling there was the flutter of a white mantle rising to the sky. From below it the cap, jacket, and press pass came falling to the ground.

Jirokichi and Sonoko found themselves looking up at that pure white mantle.

"It can't be!?"

"KID-sama!"

Kaitou KID's form appeared from the fluttering mantle. He grinned. And then shook the arm holding the gun to release the wire. Once it let go he spun his body around and pulled the trigger. The bullet aimed towards the wall smashed through a light. KID kept his hold onto the wire that had him soaring through the air in a wide arc above the heads of the reporters. As he kicked through the doors leaving the auction hall into the hallway he threw two smoke bombs behind him.

Charlie chased after KID, pushing his way through the white smoke that was spreading through the hallway. Breaking through the fog, Charlie gripped the railing overlooking a lower floor. He saw KID take down one officer after another.

"Stop! Stop or I'll shoot!"

From behind him, a policeman aimed his gun, but KID spun around and shot first. The wire burst forth, wrapping itself several times around the policeman. KID switched the gun to his left hand, dashed forward to the next railing and leapt over it. He made his landing on the lower floor and ran through the hallway.

At the very end of the hall were glass windows. On the other side of this glass skyscraper was the town of Manhattan, glittering like scattered jewels in the night view.

"Don't move! There's no longer any place for you to run to!"

From both hallways on either side policemen appeared, alert and guns aimed, inching their way closer to KID.

"That's right, just drop the gun!"

"We've got KID cornered in the East Hallway of the 103rd floor!"

One of the cops reported into his wireless. From the ground the search lights moved and settled onto where KID was standing.

"KID!"

From the hallway that KID came through Charlie approached and pointed his own gun at KID's back.

"Drop your gun! Now!"

KID, who was stopped in front of the glass window, didn't resist and obediently dropped his gun to the floor.

"Good! Now raise your hands slowly and kneel to the ground!"

However KID showed no signs of moving and remained upright.

"Did you not hear me!? I said raise both your hands so we can see them!"

 **(36-37)**

From behind Charlie, Jirokichi and Sonoko came running.

"KID-sama!"

Jirokichi put his hand out to keep Sonoko from dashing forward towards KID. Just then, KID slowly began to slowly raise both arms.

"There we go. Good. Slowly now….keep going…."

Charlie, still with his gun trained on KID, watched his movements with a tense expression. His grip on his gun tightened.

KID's right hand was lightly clenched as it raised above his head. From it's reflection in the glass window, it could be seen that he was holding on to something-

"AH!"

Just as Charlie noticed this, KID dropped the flash bombs to the floor. A painfully bright light encompassed the area, turning the inspector's vision white.

"Shit!"

His vision temporarily stolen away, Charlie aimed his gun to where he though KID would be in the light and fired. The sound of shots and broken glass echoed through the room.

"Stop it! Charlie!" cried Jirokichi.

As the light weakened, Charlie dashed to the window. The wind blew strongly through the broken glass.

"KID's-!?"

"Please step back! It's dangerous!"

Charlie held his arm out to hold back Jirokichi who had rushed forward as well.

"Where is he!?"

"Over there."

He pointed with his handgun – KID's hand glider could be seen leisurely flying away into the night.

"Curse it…..that damn Kaitou KID."

"It seems he's gotten away."

The search lights sparkled off of KID's hang glider as it soared up and away through the gorgeous high-rise buildings, seemingly melting into that New York City night view.

Meanwhile, on the TV, they were told that due to trouble in the auction hall, the TV's broadcast of Jirokichi's press conference had been temporarily put on hold, and the display was switched back to the studio. After a moment the announcer held up a freshly delivered news manuscript.

"It seems that Kaitou KID has appeared at the auction hall where Suzuki Jirokichi purchased Van Gogh's _Sunflowers._ It is unclear what KID's aim was, but it looks like he has attempted his escaped."

 **(38-39)**

The display on the screen changed, showing a single picture taken at the auction hall. It looked as though the camera had been left upside-down on the ground and a figure resembling KID was shown near the ceiling, holding to a wire and floating in the air.

It seemed that the program was unable to catch anymore footage than that, and the announcer repeated the information.

"Huh? It's over already?" asked Ayumi.

"Did KID steal the _Sunflowers?_ " said Genta.

"That's strange. I though KID didn't go after anything other than jewels." Mitsuhiko pondered.

In front of the children who were tilting their heads, Conan was dumb-struck, staring at the TV screen.

Just before the broadcast was interrupted, there was that white mantle in the air-

 _I only saw it for a moment….but was that really KID….?_

Doubts swirled through Conan's mind.

If that was really KID, then why did he appear at the auction hall?

Even though that guy was supposed to only go after big jewels…

The wind blew harshly through the broken window into the hallway where Sonoko was staring out in awe. _Click, click._ From behind her came the sound of footsteps drawing nearer.

"Wha-"Jirokichi looked back to see a figure approaching calmly with his right hand tucked into the pocket of his pants.

"It seems that you have some trouble."

There stood Kudou Shinichi before him, wearing his school blazer.

"Why are _you_ here….!?" Jirokichi asked.

"That's because I heard that KID was after the _Sunflowers._ If you like, it would be my pleasure to assist you."

As he said that, Shinichi looked at Jirokichi with challenging eyes and his confident smile.

* * *

Go figure right? Who could this Shinichi _possibly_ be!? Also when my host sisters and I went to see this movie, we were all like, "Why is Sonoko doing all the public speaking? What happened to her mother? Could they not afford her voice actress or something?"

If it's not too much trouble, please drop a short review to tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimers from the first chapter still and always will apply.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. If I haven't already I will try to send you each a personally response in the close future!

Now HERE's a chapter for KID lover! But really the novel doesn't do justice to the actual intenseness of these scenes in the movie. So make sure you watch the real deal when it comes out! If you can, purchase it online or something to contribute to the fandom lol. If you're a KID fan, this movie is DEFINITELY worth your money and one I think you can watch over and over again. Though Im pretty sure that some scenes that were in the trailer aren't actually in the movie…which seriously pisses me off but whatevers.

All that aside, enjoy!

* * *

 **4**

 **[40-41]**

Jirokichi's private jet, having departed New York's JFK International Airport, was now arriving near Haneda Airport's international flight terminal. The entire jet had been decorated in a very Van Gogh _Sunflowers_ kind of style, even going so far as to paint the date of 'Japan's Beloved _Sunflowers_ Exhibition' being held at Lake Rock in jumbo characters.

Charlie stood from his seat on the plane and made his way toward Jirokicihi, taking out his tablet.

"This is the dummy doll we collected." He said.

On the tablet screen showed one of KID's dummies struck down in front of a line of buildings in New York. In other words, the hang glider that flew out from the One World Trade Center was not KID, but merely a doll that looked like him.

"So even the ambitious New York Police were fooled."

Jirokichi let out a great laugh.

"You seem rather happy."

At the unexpected reaction, Charlie raised and eyebrow. Sonoko, sitting next to Jirokichi, chuckled.

"Uncle is always getting tricked, so he's just happy that you're in the same boat as him now."

At Sonoko's teasing, Jirokichi glared and grinded his teeth.

"More importantly….are you really okay with this?"

Charlie pushed up his glasses with his finger and turned to look towards the seats on the other side of the cabin. Sitting at the other edge of the same row as Sonoko and her uncle was Shinichi, wearing his headphones and listening to music while reading a magazine.

"For you, who would not allow even someone from the CA to join during an emergency…to then let only that young man through so easily…"

"Oh, that's because that guy is a detective who represents Japan. There's no need for you to worry."

"However, what if he is KID in disguise…? Their physique seems similar as well…."

"Aren't you the worry-wart?"

Jirokichi let out a small laugh and cut through the middle seats to make his way towards Shinichi.

"Take a clooose look." He said as he reached out and pinched Shinichi's cheek roughly and pulled hard.

"Ow-ow-ow-owo….!"

"As you can see!"

Shinichi pulled away from the grinning Jirokichi's hand.

"What do you think you're doing old man!?"

 **[42-43]**

"Well Charlie here was being skeptical you see."

"Why is that American riding this plane anyways? He was only supposed to escort you and the _Sunflowers_ to the airport right? There's no reason for him to come all the way to Japan!"

At Shinichi's words, Charlie opened his mouth and said, "That's true."

"My contract was limited to guarding the painting while it was in America. However, since I have come to know that KID is targeting the _Sunflowers_ , there's no way I can just call it quits now."

Pushing up his glasses with his pointer finger, Charlie clenched his hand. Jirokichi gave out a praising "Oooh"

"As expected of a samurai of my choosing. You will protect the _Sunflowers_ by all means, won't you?"

"Yes. Please leave it to me."

"Now if we just add in the KID Killer, everything will be perfect!"

As Jirokichi gave out a hearty laugh and walked back towards Charlie, Shinichi gave him a stern look. At this time, Kieko Anderson came walking in from the front side of the plane. She stopped in front of Miyadai Natsumi, who was sitting in the center seats two rows in front of Jirokichi.

"Natsumi-san, are you alright?"

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm just feeling a little airsick."

"If that's the case, why don't you walk around the cabin a bit like me? Come now, it's not good to be sitting down for such a long time."

Keiko took Natsumi's arm and helped her stand up from the seat.

"Thank you very much."

Ishimine Taizo took that moment to stand up slowly from where he was seated by Natsumi on the other side of the aisle.

"Ah, and where are you going?"

"To the restroom."

Keiko continued to look at Ishimine as he walked towards to front before taking a seat in the chair next to Natsumi's. Natsumi, swaying a bit, made her way towards the back while holding on to the seats for stability.

In the seat two rows in front of Natsumi's sat Kishi Kumiko, who was working on her laptop. She looked up as Ishimine passed by her. After he went by she started typing again. In the same row as Kumiko by the windows sat Azuma Kouji. For some reason he wore an uneasy expression while staring out the window. At one point he looked at his watch and frowned…

###

At the Haneda Airport International Terminal Lounge, Kogoro waited with Inspector Nakamori Ginzo for the arrival of Jirokichi's private jet. In this room where only permitted individuals could enter, one side of the wall was covered completely in glass that allowing them a vast view of the runway.

Standing by the window, Kogoro was looking at a picture handed to him by Nakamori-keibu that depicted Jirokichi's private jet.

 **[44-45]**

"Oi, Oi," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Even though he knows that KID is after the painting, why did that guy have to make the airplane so flashy?"

"We the police also told him to make sure the plane didn't stand out so much, but he said that it wasn't just for transportation, but also a declaration."

Kogoro put the picture down on the counter by the window and glared at Nakamori.

"And isn't stopping him from doing that _your_ responsibility, Inspector Nakamori!"

"You think that old man actually listens to anything I have to say by now?"

"…well, I guess it can't be helped."

Both Kogoro and Nakamori gave a helpless shrug. "Heh~" from behind them they heard Conan's voice.

Turning around they saw Conan, having climbed up onto the counter, was looking at the picture of the plane. "So he's coming back on this thing. Is the _Sunflowers_ on it too?"

Seeing Conan, Kogoro gave out an annoyed, "Jeez" before grabbing the boy and lifting him up by the collar.

"Every frickin' time- why are you always coming along!"

"It can't be helped can it? Mr. Jirokichi said to bring Conan-kun along too, right?"

Ran, who had come with Conan, looked at the boy. "Y-yeah" the boy agreed with a bitter smile.

"After all, Conan-kun is known as the KID Killer."

"Please, what bull."

Kogoro knit his brows, clearly displeased. He let go of Conan's collar.

"Well, don't loiter around too much. You're just like extra baggage around here."

"Okaaay!"

"Ran, you better keep a close eye on this kid."

"Yeah. Well, I always mean to, but…."

Ran gave a sour smile. From her bag her phone rang. She pulled it out and looked surprised at the name displayed on the caller ID. "Sorry, just a sec," she said, separating a little from Conan and the others before pressing the answer button.

"Hello, Sonoko?"

###

As the landing gear was put in to effect on the plane, Sonoko was seated in her chair with the seatbelt fastened in preparation for landing. She was talking through the satellite phone on the plane.

"Ah, Ran? We're just about to land, but listen before that I thought I'd let you know something special~."

Shinichi, from where he sat on the opposite side of the plane near the windows, glanced over in Sonoko's direction.

"Yeah, yeah. Actually, he wanted to surprise you so he told me not to say anything, but…"

Sonoko looked as though she was trying to hide what she was going to say into the phone. Seeing this, Shinichi unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up from his seat.

 **[46-47]**

"Yeah…yeah…what!?"

Conan turned around at the sound of Ran's surprised cry from where she stood a little separated from the others.

"You're with Shinichi!?"

 _No way,_ Conan thought at her words, not believing his ears.

"I-It's not like just because Shinichi is riding the plane that I-"

Conan suddenly ran across the counter towards Ran and tried to grab the cell phone from where it was at the base of Ran's ear.

"Sonoko-neechan! Is Shinichi-niichan there!?"

###

"Huh!?" Sonoko exclaimed at having the receiver suddenly switched to Conan.

"Is that you brat!?"

"Where is he right now?"

"Where? Well…"

Sonoko leaned away and looked over to the opposite window-side of her row. Shinichi, who was supposed to have been sitting there, was gone-.

"Huh!? But he was sitting over there until just a moment ago…."

Shinichi, who had snuck away from the cabin, was making his way to the cargo hold. There were several containers and palettes fastened to rollers in this reserved room near the front-end of the plane

Shinichi climbed over the fence and headed towards the wooden box that was currently safekeeping the _Sunflowers_ painting. The boxes were all supposed to be fastened to protect their contents from the swaying of the plane, but for some reason only this box was making a clattering sound.

Taking a closer look, he saw that the belts that were supposed to be securing the box were all unbuckled. Shinichi took one of the loose buckles into his hand. He had an unreadable expression on his face as he contemplated what he was seeing.

And right then – BOOOOM! There was the sound of a detonation!

The door to the body of the plane was blown off. It flew into the air only to be sucked into the jet engine of the aircraft, setting off yet another, bigger explosion.

###

With the sound of the explosion and jolting of the craft, oxygen masks were released from the ceiling in the cabin room.

"What the!?" cried Jirokichi.

"Ahh!" screamed Sonoko.

The plane rattled and shook severely, causing Kumiko, who had been standing in the aisle way, to fall to the floor. Natsumi shrieked and covered her head as next to her Keiko desperately held on to the seat in front of them.

Sonoko dropped her phone and it rolled on the slanting cabin floor.

 **[48-49]**

"Sonoko!? Are you OK? Sonoko!"

Ran called out frantically to her friend after hearing her scream and the sound of the explosion from the other end of the line. Next to her Conan also put his ear closer to the phone as Kogoro, who had noticed the sound of Ran's voice, ran over to them.

"What happened, Ran!?"

"That's- There was a scream and right after that a terrible noise…"

"What!? Nakamori-keibu! Come over here!"

"It seems that something has happened on the plane," Kogoro explained to Inspector Nakamori, who had run over. Conan turned around and put his hands on the glass window. He gazed up at the sky with an intense look on his face.

(It couldn't be that…KID….!?)

###

The warning alarms were going off in the private jet's cockpit. The oxygen-mask wearing co-pilot flipped one switch after another on the panel in front of him.

"As I thought it's no use! The aileron and slat on the right wing as well as the number four engine is not responding!"

The captain, who was operating the panel above their heads stopped what he was doing and put on his oxygen mask.

"Forget it. Immediately stop engine four to extinguish the fire!"

"Roger that!"

"I'll take over the steering from here."

The captain grabbed the control yoke while looking at the monitor. He tried to turn it as to level out the tilting plane, but the handles were heavy and did not move well.

"C'mon! Work for me here!"

The captain put forth all his strength and just managed to turn the yoke.

###

When the door was blown off the cargo room, having all that pressurized air forcefully leave at once created a vacuum-like effect. Containers and palettes that had been secured to the floor were one after another being sucked outside the aircraft. The wooden box holding the _Sunflowers_ was also dragged from the floor and crashed into the wall of the craft.

Through the new opening created by the lack of a door, the pieces of the box were pulled outside along with the reinforced case of the _Sunflowers_. It spun in the air before crashing into the wing of the plane, demolishing the case-!

Shinichi was also swept outside the plane along with the cargo, managed to hang off the side of the outer wall of the aircraft. The treacherous wind blew fiercely against him, his blazer rustling violently.

 _Looks like things have just started to get a bit interesting-_ He grinned and let out a laugh as both his hands released their hold on the plane wall.

###

Back in the cabin the emergency alarms continued to go off as the passengers donned their oxygen masks and held on for dear life. As Sonoko was sitting in a window seat, she was also able to use her elbows to brace herself against the rumbling.

 **[50-51]**

Just then she saw something fly past her window at an incredible speed. She couldn't believe her eyes, though it has been just for a second, she had recognized the shape of the thing.

"A person….!?"

###

The workers at the air traffic control tower had been informed of the emergency state of Jirokichi's private jet. The controllers were hurriedly rushing around to follow up on correspondence.

"This is the control tower! Aircraft 2501 roger that. We'll open up Runway A. Can you make your way over there?"

"This is Aircraft 2501. We'll give it a shot. Just in case clear the surrounding area of all other aircrafts!"

"Understood."

The head controller who had been communicating with the captain through wireless, covered the mic on his headset and turned around to give orders to the others.

"Relay to all aircrafts! After confirming their fuel storage, commence an emergency withdrawal!"

"Wha-!?"

The controllers who were sitting at their monitors all turned around at once in surprise.

"Hurry up! There's no time!"

"Yessir!"

Having received their orders, the controllers hurriedly contacted the pilots of the planes still in flight over the airport.

"Message to all crafts, we've have an emergency situation! Confirm your fuel and then immediately withdraw from this area!"

As the notification was being repeated. The head controller looked up at the main monitor above the window in frustration. The giant monitor screen displayed the airplanes in flight's speed, altitude, and other such data.

Even if Aircraft 2501 was able to circle itself around, with its current altitude it would be too high for the runway-.

He stared as the monitor showed the circling Aircraft 2501. _Please pull it off somehow_ , he prayed.

###

"Attention passengers. Due to engine trouble, we will now be preparing for an emergency landing. Please sit down and secure your seatbelts."

The co-pilot's announcement rang through the continuous tremors of the cabin. The extra oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling where swaying back and forth and the luggage put in the overhead bins had fallen and were scattered about.

Natsumi looked around with a pale face. She saw Ishimine and Keiko sit down and fasten their seatbelts hurriedly. Kumiko and Kouji as well fastened theirs with their faces frozen in fear. Sonoko and Jirokichi re-fixed their oxygen masks as Charlie looked on with an unreadable expression. All three double-checked their seatbelts.

 **[52-53]**

Shinichi, who had let go of the plane, flew backwards at a high speed, barely avoiding hitting the plane's wing and was spun around in the air near the tail of the aircraft. He held his arms close to his body and lowered his head, thus increasing his speed to catch up with the falling _Sunflowers_ painting.

Finding the canvas that had been released from its destroyed case, he further quickened his falling speed by putting out his hands. However, just as he was within an inch of grasping the painting, it slipped away from him. Falling past the painting, he spun his body around so that he was looking up. He then spread out his arms and legs to slow himself down and to once again come within reach of the canvas. While still falling at a high speed, he again stretched out his arm toward to _Sunflowers._ This time being able to grab on to the canvas, he continued to pull it in closer to his body with both hands. But just then a violent gust of air hit him from behind.

"Uwaaaa!"

Unable to keep control, Shinichi was spun violently in the air. From behind him approached the aircraft that had lowered its altitude considerably in preparation for its emergency landing.

Glancing behind him, Shinichi saw that he was going to get hit. He gritted his teeth. He curled his body around the painting as much as possible and as he grabbed his blazer – the wings of his hang glider burst forth.

Having quick-changed from the blazer to his white suit, KID was able to swiftly spin and doge the incoming plane. He leveled himself out underneath the plane and flew to line up with its right side.

Seeing the familiar white figure pass by from the cabin window, Sonoko drew her face closer to the glass in disbelief. She saw that under the open wings of the hang glider was KID's form carrying the _Sunflowers_.

"K….KID-sama-!"

"What! KID you say!?"

From next to her, Jirokichi immediately took off his oxygen mask and pressed his nose to the glass. However KID had already distanced himself from the airplane and was flying in the opposite direction.

"Where!? Where is he!? Where is KID-!?"

###

"What!?" exclaimed Ran, having been able to hear Jirokichi's voice through the cell phone.

"He said KID!?"

Kogoro also exclaimed from where he had drawn his ear close to the phone. Nakamori leaned forward, "KID's appeared!?"

"Hello? Hello?"

Ran pressed the phone against her ear, panicked. As she did, a policeman wearing civilian clothes approached, "Nakamori-keibu, there's trouble!" he said, running towards them.

"As you said there was trouble aboard the plane. It's about to make an emergency landing on Runway A!"

 **[54-55]**

Conan slammed his hands against the window from where he was standing on the counter and gazed out onto the runway.

 _Dammit! I can't see anything from here!_

He jumped off the counter and ran by the clandestine officer towards the door.

"Ah! Conan-kun!?"

Ignoring Ran's call, he opened the door and ran out. Nakamori, Kogoro, and the officer quickly followed him and left the room. Left behind, Ran looked up at the sky through the window "Sonoko!" she called into her phone.

"Sonoko, answer me! Sonoko-!"

###

Now aware that KID had appeared, Jirokichi removed his oxygen mask and stood from his seat. Using the other seats as leverage, he tried to make his way through the aisle. Sonoko panicked, "Uncle stop it!" she called out after him.

"Please wait, Consult Suzuki!"

From the seat behind Charlie also stood up and removed his mask.

"It's too dangerous to move around right now."

"But, the fact that KID's appeared means that the _Sunflowers_ was-"

 _Ping_ , right then the cabin chime rang.

"We will now be executing an emergency landing. As you are aware, due to the explosions we are unable to operate the craft freely. This will most likely be a very difficult landing." The co-pilot's tense voice came over the intercom. Even through an intense jolt, he held resolve and positioned himself forward in his seat. Jirokichi returned to his seat and fastened his seatbelt. Charlie did the same.

"Please pray for our safe landing."

Finishing his announcement, the co-pilot looked anxiously at the captain. The captain let out a wry smile and nodded.

"Alright, let's do this!"

The captain looked forward and put both hands on the controls.

###

Within the airport rang the emergency warnings and announcement of the situation. Airplanes in the lead runway began to move themselves away. Fire engines, ambulances, and other special vehicles made their way to Runway A one after another.

"Attention all guests, due to an emergency landing, all aircrafts scheduled for landing and takeoff have been delayed."

As the people in the airport stopped and lent their ear to the announcement, Conan slid down the railing of an escalator and jumped off to the bottomed floor. Nakamori and Kogoro were right after him, running down the stairs next to the escalators.

"Please get out of the way! Move!"

"Hurry!"

Weaving their way through the surprised civilians stopped in their tracks, they headed for the international terminal.

 **[56-57]**

Ran, left alone in the room that overlooked the runways, continued to look worriedly out the windows at the sky. She could see the horde of emergency vehicles come dashing out one after another.

"Shinichi… Protect Sonoko…"

Ran closed her eyes as if in prayer, her grip on her phone tightening.

###

Heading for an emergency landing, the private jet lowered its altitude, breaking free from the clouds. Through the front windows of the cockpit they could see the sea, and beyond that, Haneda Airport. The co-pilot opened the hanger door, lowering the landing wheels. The machine, now prepared for landing, trembled viciously several times.

"It's no use! The aircraft won't stabilize!"

"Don't give up! Give it another try!"

"Yes sir!"

The cabin room shook violently as well. Sonoko and the others took their safety positions in the seats, whole their bodies were being knocked about.

The out-of-control aircraft with its incessant shaking, descended rapidly.

Sonoma closed her eyes, her arms resting on her legs were pressed against her forehead.

"Ran… Save us…."

###

"Move! Move!"

Conan ran towards Runway A, making his way through the people standing near the arrivals gates. From there he saw on the other side of a parked plane was the descending jet.

 _! That's it…!?_

He continued running while his eyes followed the plane emblazed with drawings of the _Sunflowers_ as it swerved left and right in its descent.

###

"Hey! It's here!"

The workers in the control towers were also following the movements of the craft, one of whom raised his voice.

"It's swerving!"

"That's no good. It's too high!"

Continuing to sway left and right, plane passed by in front of the control tower. Seeing it, the head controller in command paled, taking off his headset.

"Oh man…this is _not_ good…"

The plane was not headed to its assigned Runway A, but towards a runway that was much closer to the terminal.

 **[58-59]**

The private jet meandered its way onto the runway, its fourth engine still smoking. The plane suddenly swerved sharply to the right. The captain let out a grunt, tightening his hold onto the control yoke.

"Listen to me~~~~~~~~~~!"

While confirming the position of the plane on the front display, the controls, which had become stiff sputtered and turned to the side. As the front wheel touched ground with a thud, the rambling plane plowed down onto the runway. However, it soon strayed off the path left towards the gates.

"Reverse the engines!"

"But we might lose control….!"

"It doesn't matter, focus only on stopping it!"

"Got it!" the co-pilot pulled the lever, reversing the engines. The engine covers of all but the fourth opened in the front and the engines blasted out air from the front.

This caused the ground to tear at the landing gear- but even still the plane moved forward. Then, in an attempt to steer the right wing from the gates, the wing instead sliced into another plane. Black smoke rose from the resounding explosion, the impact forcing the plane in a new direction. Now it was headed straight for the international terminal itself!

###

"Danger Alert! All customers in the international terminal please evacuate immediately!"

At the announcement there were cries of shock as everyone began to run away at once. Only Conan stood still, watching the incoming plane on the other side of the window. He could hear the shrill sound of the reverse engines of the giant aircraft as it was approaching right before his very eyes-…!

 _I begging you. Please stop…!_

Just as he thought that mass of smoke would come surging through the glass window – the plane stopped just in front of the gate. From the midst of the smoke, the nose of the airplane appeared, not even a meter separating it from the gate's glass window.

"That was too close..."

Conan fell back onto the ground and stayed there, letting out a shaky breath of relief.

###

"This is the control tower. Aircraft 2501, can you hear me? Aircraft 2501, please respond!"

In the tense atmosphere of the control tower, the head controller called to the plane through wireless. Then, along with static, they heard the voice of the captain.

"This is Aircraft 2501. I'm sorry. I ignored you orders and landed in a different runway."

"And…are you guys okay?"

"Yes, we just escaped a collision with the gate."

At the captain's words, the controllers in the air traffic control tower all gave out cries of joy.

"We are all safe. Please begin the rescue of the passengers."

 **[60-61]**

"Good Job. But on the next flight, make sure to follow orders"

"Roger that!"

The head controller removed his headset and put a hand on his chest as he breathed a sigh of relief.

###

"Hey kid, you alright?"

"Yeah" Conan nodded to Kogoro and Nakamori as they came running up to him before looking out the window.

The emergency vehicles that had surrounded the airplane had already started discharging the water hoses. From the doors of the plane the slide shoots used for emergency evacuations had been inflated and were released onto the ground.

Nakamori looked at the plane that was stopped right in front of them. "Oi, oi" He said, his eyes widening.

"Talk about too close…"

"Yeah, just one step wrong and something preposterous would have occurred."

Listening to Nakamori and Kogoro's conversation, Conan silently agreed.

 _That's for sure…but for KID to do this kind of thing…)_

Suddenly reflected in the eye of the airplane…Conan spotted some solitary thing carving an arc in the sky, a good distance away.

 _That…it can't be!_

Conan immediately pressed the right button of his criminal-tracking glasses, zooming up on that thing in the sky which was – a white hang glider!

"KID!"

KID looked down at the plane that had stopped just in front of the gate and let out a small smirk before rising up and away from the airport.

"Damn it! As if I'll let you get away!"

Conan stood up abruptly and began to dash away. "Hey!" Kogoro tried to call out after him.

"Where're you going brat!?"

"It's KID! KID was in the air and he's got the _Sunflowers_!"

"What!?" "Really!?"

Surprised, Kogoro and Nakamori turned towards the window.

###

 _Shinichi….Sonoko…!_

Ran ran out from the room overlooking the runway. She headed for the departure lobby while praying for the safety of her two friends.

Just as she did, her phone's vibrator went off. She stopped in her tracks to look at the screen. It was from Sonoko.

"Sonoko! Are you OK? Where are you right now!?"

"Calm down, Ran. I'm fine"

 **[62-63]**

"Thank God."

Ran put a hand to her chest and breathed a sigh of relief at hearing the sound of her best friend's voice in good health over the cell phone.

"Anyways, has Kudou-kun contacted you?"

"Huh? Shinichi? Not yet, no."

"I see…"

The sound of Sonoko's voice darkened and Ran began to get a bad feeling.

"What about Shinichi? Isn't he with you?"

"Actually….we can't find him. We were supposed to have evacuated from different shoots, but…"

It couldn't be….her vision turning black before her, Ran fell to her knees.

###

Having run from the arrival's gate, Conan cut through the building before opening up a door to a "No Trespassing" emergency exit and dashed up the stairs of the fire escape.

"Hey boy! You can't go through there!"

Just as a security guard came bursting through, Conan pressed himself against the wall to hide his body.

The security guard put his hand on the rail and peeked over below him. Seeming rather frustrated, he then ran down the stairs. As his footsteps got farther away, Conan let out a breath of relief, "That was close."

At that moment, the smartphone in his pocket began to buzz.

###

Ran, still kneeling on the floor in the departure lobby, had immediately thought to call Shinichi's cell phone. Trying to calm the impatient beating of her heart, she put the phone to her ear. It rang several times before switching to the answering machine.

"We're sorry. The person you called can't come to the phone right now. After the beep, please leave a message…."

"No…"

Ran paled as she gripped the phone tightly. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she shut them in a prayer and put the phone back to her ear.

"Shinichi…please…answer…."

Just then there was click as the phone was answered.

"Sorry, Ran! I'm chasing KID right now! I'll call you back later!"

Just as she realized she was hearing Shinichi's voice, the phone hung up. She was numb as she heard the click.

"…Thank God…..""

The tears poured from her eyes. She put the cell phone on her knees and covered her face. The people passing through stared at the crouching, crying girl in wonder as they walked by.

 **[64-65]**

Conan shoved his voice-changing bowtie and smartphone into the pocket of his pants. He looked up around him as he ran onto the roof of the building.

 _Where? Where is…._

He came to the edge of the roof and scanned the skies. Then, he saw the flutter of a pure white cape on the roof of one of the buildings aligning the side of the sea.

KID stood at the very end of the roof with one hand holding on to the brim of his silk hat. He grinned at Conan before allowing his body to merely fall forwards off the building. The wings of his hang glider burst forth and he circled towards the right-

"I won't let you-!"

Conan put his foot on the border of the roof and activated his power-enhancing kick shoes. At the same time he pressed the button on his dispensing belt to inflate the anywhere ball. From the buckle, a soccer ball began to sprout forth. He lightly kicked it up in the air once, before pulling his leg back in a big swing.

"Get'im!"

Conan kicked the ball with his enhanced strength, sending it on a direct path towards KID.

But just then KID smoothly pulled out his card gun and aimed. The card discharged from the gun pierced the ball, making it explode right before him.

As he smirked, KID circled out towards the sea. With the wind from the explosion pushing at his hang glider, his form quickly became smaller and smaller as he got farther away. Finally he disappeared behind the shadow of one of the buildings-.

"Dammit!"

Vexed, Conan pounded a fist into the floor of the roof. But he then quickly remembered the form of KID falling from the building moments before.

 _When he fell from the building, KID wasn't holding the_ Sunflowers…..

Conan stood up and pushed the button on the side of his glasses. The right lens zoomed up allowing him to examine the building where KID had just been.

 _Within the time I had lost sight of him, he must've hidden it somewhere on that building…_

Just then, in one blocked off corner of the roof in between some pipes, Conan spotted a single canvas. It was without a doubt the _Sunflowers_ purchased at the auction by Jirokichi.

* * *

Looots of KID action this time And overall dramatic-ness that are characteristic of this movie!

And I love all the "pushing up the glasses" gesture that every glasses-characters just have to have.

Thank you again for reading. Next chapter is rather short, the ones after it are sure to be quite long. I will get the next chapter posted in about a week.

As always please take a few moments to share your thoughts!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Still applies from chapter 1.

Short chapter this time. Next one is twice as long and is finished! Yaay! I'll put it up a week from now. I am working on chapter seven now, but am only halfway through the book ;; which means pretty soon that chaps are gonna have to be broken in half or something…

Thanks everyone for reviewing!

* * *

 **5**

 **[66-67]**

They quickly retrieved the _Sunflowers_ that Conan discovered from the roof of the building and carried it to the airport lounge. The picture was placed on top of a desk surrounded by tools used for reparation. Kouji, Natsumi, and Ishimine situated themselves around the desk.

"These were all the tools we could assemble from the airport."

"To get the proper chemicals we'd have to go back to the studio…"

Kouji responded with a "It's fine" to Natsumi and Ishimine's words before pulling goggles over his face and equipping his gloves.

"For now I'm just going to see if there aren't any scratches on the painting. Let's start."

"Ok" Natsumi nodded from next to him. A little ways off to the side, Kumiko and Keiko stood looking on at the _Sunflowers_ with worried faces.

"It'd be nice if it were just only a little bit dirty…"

"If there's even a single scratch, we can say good-bye to our dreams of exhibiting it."

Just then two police detectives entered the room shouting "Nakamori-keibu!"

"Please look at this. As you said we could see KID from the roof's security camera."

"Here's a picture. It seems he passed directly over here about an hour and fifteen minutes beforehand."

The picture showed KID's form flying through the sky carrying the canvas in his hands.

"At this point he still had the _Sunflowers_ … _"_

Kogoro, who had walked up next to Nakamori-keibu nodded, "I see."

"So then, why did KID leave the _Sunflowers_ on top of that building?

"Well, that's…."

Nakamori looked at a loss for words to reply. Resting against the counter by the window, Charlie replied in his stead. "It was probably so he could successfully make his escape."

"The second _Sunflowers_ is not only heavy, but big. It would create too much wind-resistance for him to escape with while using his hang glider."

Standing next to him, Jirokichi nodded at Charlie's theory.

"When things cooled off a bit he most likely intended to come back to retrieve it. But then he was spotted by this little guy…"

Both Jirokichi and Charlie looked over at Conan, who was sitting on the window counter.

"I didn't find it by myself. Shinichi-niisan said he saw KID put it there when he was chasing him."

"And, where is that boy detective now?"

 **[68-69]**

Charlie asked with a contemplative expression on his face.

"For him to never be here when KID shows up, it's as if that boy himself is the Kaitou KID-"

"I don't think that's possible."

Ran, who was standing next to Conan, spoke up as she pulled out her cell-phone and began pressing buttons. From next to Ran, Sonoko peeked over her shoulder to look at the cell phones screen.

"She's right. There's a record of her speaking with Kudou-kun over the phone one hour and fifteen minutes beforehand. This is the exact same time as that picture you showed us was taken."

Conan was inwardly bothered.

 _Just great. It's now official that I made a trip to the States_ ….

At Charlie's silence, Kogoro turned his nose up, dissatisfied.

"Putting the ridiculous talk aside, the problem here is figuring out why KID passed by through this airport in the first place."

"That's true….He was making his escaped by his hang glider, so there was no need for him to go out of his way to pass by here where we all are."

Nakamori said, speaking his thoughts aloud as he folded his arms. Again, Charlie opened his mouth at this.

"Wasn't he just curious how the plane that he himself blew up turned out? It's not uncommon for homicidal fiends to innocently return to the scene of their crime after all."

"Th-that's…."

To have it put so cruelly, Ran frowned as Sonoko glared daggers at the man. "Hold on a moment there, you!"

"Don't you put KID-sama in the same group as murderers!"

Sonoko shouted menacingly. But Charlie just looked down at her in disapproval.

"Open your eyes! You yourself were almost killed by that guy!"

Sonoko was taken at a loss for words at that. Ran and Conan had clouded expressions on their faces.

"I must admit that it's hard for me as well to acknowledge that KID would go so far as to crash a plane…"

Nakamori said, his shoulders dropping. Jirokichi also looked down with disappointment in his eyes. At that moment, Kouji, who had been examining the _Sunflower_ spoke up, "Sorry for the wait."

"As most of it just seems to be sullied by the smoke, there will be no need for the painting to undergo extensive repairs."

"Oh! Is that right?"

Jirokichi ran up to Kouji and put both hands on his shoulders in a gesture of appreciation.

"Looks like we got off with just the skins on our back with this. It's all thanks to everyone's hard work! Prepare yourselves, things are going to get busy from here on out!"

Now knowing that the _Sunflower_ was not seriously damaged, Ishimine, Kumiko, and Keiko all smiled happily as Natsumi embraced Keiko, overwhelmed with joy.

"Still it's a good thing we were able to find it so quickly."

Kumiko said, putting a hand to her chest in relief. "Yeah," Keiko agreed, nodding and petting Natsumi's head.

"If it had stayed out in that hot weather for too long with the ultra-violet rays and the heat then there'dbe no way we would've gotten off so lucky."

 **[70-71]**

"Well done, little guy! And _that's_ why _you're_ the KID Killer!"

Jirokichi let out a great laugh as Conan smiled bitterly.

 _Even though I keep telling them it's not me…._

 _###_

That night, the _Sunflowers_ was carried to and put inside Jirokichi's underground safe, equipped with a strict security system. Beyond the safe's circular door the painting was put inside a reinforced case and belts were used to secure it to the ground.

"Created by combining the forces of the legendary craftsman, Kimizukichi Emon's brains with the Suzuki household's fortune, I dubbed this gigantic safe: 'The New Iron Tanuki'! The painting will be safe if we leave it here!"

Jirokichi said this full of pride while standing in front of the _Sunflower,_ but Sonoko, standing to the right of Conan and Ran, interrupted.

"But KID's broken in to the 'Iron Tanuki' before, right….?"

"No fear, for I have already finished renewing and improving it. Isn't that right, Lupin?"

The dog, Lupin, barked and wagged his tail in reply from where he stood by his master's side.

Jirokichi exited the safe and began working on the panel next to the door. With a few beeps, the words "Settings Complete" popped up on the monitor.

"Alright, confirm that everyone has left the safe."

"Ok."

Sonoko, Ran, and Conan -who had a hand on Lupin's collar- left the safe. As they did, Jirokichi's bodyguard, Godou Zengo peeked inside. He checked left and right before quietly smiling.

"It's fine, sir. Nobody is inside."

"Got it. New Iron Tanuki, commencing start-up!"

The start button pressed, the door to the safe slowly began to close.

###

The next morning found Conan sitting on the sofa of the Mouri Detective Agency watching the news while Kogoro was reading the sports section in the newspaper at his desk.

Jirokichi's private jet making an emergency landing was featured as the top story on the news program.

" _According to the Metropolitan Police Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs, there were traces of an explosive being set to the outer door of the cargo hold. They are now looking for the man in charge of loading the cargo, who has now gone missing."_

"It seems the owners of the other _Sunflowers_ are reluctant to loan the paintings out…"

Kogoro muttered, looking up from the newspaper. Ran opened the door to the agency and entered.

"Huh? Dad, you haven't left yet?"

 **[72-73]**

"Yeah, well, the main race doesn't start 'til after lunch and all."

As the news of the plane was finished, Kogoro used the remote to turn off the TV. Conan looked unamused at Kogoro.

 _C'mon, did you have any intention of going at all?_

"Da-a-d. If that's the case then you should at least attend the morning session together with everyone at the strategy meeting."

"It's not that big of a deal to require a detective of my caliber is it?"

Ran gave him a helpless look and set some envelopes on his desk.

"Here, the mail's here."

"Hm? What's this, a letter?"

Korgoro grinned looking at the letter addressed to him, "Is this one of those _fan letters_ by any chance?"

Ran sighed before turning to Conan.

"Conan-kun. Sonoko also invited us as well. Would you like to go?"

"I want to, but I already promised everyone that I'd go with them to see the art museum today."

"I see….well I guess it can't be helped then."

Ran sat down on the sofa opposite to Conan, "Also…" she started with a clouded expression.

"Has Shinichi contacted you recently?"

"No, not yet."

Conan shook his head. Ran lowered hers in disappointment.

"If he was going on a trip to America, he should've told me at least….He hasn't contacted me at all since he was chasing KID…."

 _Ran…._

But Conan couldn't find any words to call out with to the depressed Ran right in front of his eyes. Well, in the first place it was KID, disguised as Shinichi, who appeared before Jirokichi at the auction hall and snuck onto the private jet-.

Just as Conan was searching for words, the door was burst open by Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi, "Cona-a-n!" they called.

"We came to pick you up!"

"Let's go, Conan-kun."

"Hurry! Hurry!"

"Ah, okay" Conan said getting up from the sofa and heading towards the door.

"Professor! Conan's here!"

"Haibara-saaan! It looks like he'll be ready to go quickly!"

Genta and Mitsuhiko called to Professor Agasa and Haibara, who were waiting outside. They went down the stairs.

"I'll be going then."

 **[74-75]**

Conan looked back at Ran from the doorway. The smile was already back on her face.

"Take care okay? See you later."

She waved cheerfully at Conan's back. Conan closed the door and went downstairs. "Ran!" Kogoro barked right at that moment, having opened the letter.

"What dad?"

"Contact the police immediately!"

"Huh?"

"It's KID! Inside the envelope you gave me was a KID card!"

Kogoro showed her the card in his hand that had a KID mark on it.

"Hurry and call them!"

"Got it!"

Ran rushed out of the office to the third floor as Kogoro unfolded the piece of paper that was folded into fourths and had come with the KID card.

"'Tonight I will come for _La_ _Berceuse's_ left (the first copy)' ….dammit!"

"That KID, so you still haven't given up-!"

###

Around the perimeter of the Suzuki's mansion several guards in black were positioned, enforcing a strict security system.

There was a long table in the center of the room used for the strategy meeting. Jirokichi was standing in front of a large monitor that was installed at the end of the room.

"As you all are aware, those who are in possession of the other _Sunflowers_ have become a little adverse to the idea of lending them out. In order to get back the trust that we have lost, I've decided to install an anti-KID security system into Lake Rock. Last night, in accord with Miss Natsumi's proposal, we've already decided to adopt her plan to camouflage security cameras in the midst of some decorative sunflowers."

Gotou sitting at a desk to the side of the monitor, typed on his computer. He brought up the layout of the Lake Rock Museum. The museum was built into an underground cave and had seven observatories to it. Connecting the observatories was a winding hallway lined with sunflowers.

"If you have any more ideas, please feel free to offer them. Of course, expense is no concern."

"Yes, sir," Kumiko nodded strongly at his words.

"It is our duty to make this exhibition a success. We will compile our ideas and present them to you shortly."

"Understood, I'm counting on you all. Charlie, will you cooperate as well?"

Charlie, who had his hand resting on a chair straightened his position, "Of course" he said.

"Though he is called a Phantom Thief, he is a murder who will go to any lengths to accomplish his goal…..No, he is a terrorist."

 **[76-77]**

Sonoko slammed her hands onto the table and stood up. Her actions surprised Lupin, who had been lying down at her feet, and he curled his tail under himself in fear.

"And what the hell do _you_ know!? We don't even know for sure that it was KID-sama who caused that plane accident!"

Though being glared at by Sonoko, Charlie merely put on a strict expression and pushed up his glasses with his finger.

"In that case, tell me, other than KID, who –and for what reason- fixed that bomb to the plane?"

"…"

Galled, Sonoko bit her lip. From behind her came the sound of the door opening.

A bodyguard dressed in black came in. "What is it?" Jirokichi asked with a frown.

"Excuse me, but there is an emergency call from Inspector Nakamori. He says that he needs to speak with you, Jirokichi-sama…."

"Put him on. What's going on?"

The curators still sitting at the table looked on at Jirokichi in concern. Charlie also looked at Jirokichi with a frown. From behind the curators Jirokichi was responding on the phone with affirmative grunts.

"Understood. I highly doubt that the Iron Tanuki has been broken into, but for the time being I will promptly go to check it. "

After saying that he hung up before turning to face the curators.

"Everyone, sorry but the meeting must be put on hold."

"What's going on?" "What happened?"

The group tensed up as Sonoko asked, "It couldn't be….KID-sama is it?"

"It is. It seems he has sent a new message to Mouri's place. "

The group looked up in astonishment "!"

"And, what was in the message?"

At Charlie's question, Jirokichi nodded and slowly lifted his head.

"All that was written was, 'Tonight I will come for the _La Berceuse's_ left (the first copy).'"

Hearing the message, Natsumi looked on in shock.

"It can't be…."

"Is he referring to the left of his 'triptych'?"

At Kouji's words, Kumiko's eyes widened in surprise.

"In that case, the first reproduction would be…."

Kouji nodded quietly.

"Just in case, I'm going to check whether the _Sunflowers_ in the basement safe is still there or not. Everyone please wait here for the time being."

 **[78]**

Just as Jirokichi was about to leave the room, Kumiko called out to him, "Consult!"

"If it's as the message says, then KID's aim is not the _Sunflower_ that is kept here."

Jirokichi and Sonoko both raised their eyebrows at her statement "!?"

"' _La Berceus's_ left- the first copy - that can only be the fifth _Sunflowers._ And the fifth _Sunflowers_ , as you know, is currently in Japan."

"Curse him, that KID….So this time he's after a different _Sunflowers_! Gotou!"

Clenching his teeth, Jirokichi turned to the desk beside the monitor.

"Contact Inspector Nakamori immediately! Kid's next target is the fifth _Sunflowers._ The place is Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art!"

* * *

That is a real museum btw, and it really does have the _Sunflowers_ exhibiting at the moment. If you go to their homepage it says, "In cooperation with Movie Production of _Detective Conan Sunflowers of Inferno_ " lol.

Soooo, any guesses on who it actually was who tried to blow up the plane? Any ideas why KID is doing all this? What do you think of Charlie – the terrorist-hating American? Lol

Share your thoughts and impressions!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Same as always!

* * *

 **6**

 **[79]**

Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Art Museum is found in West Shinjuku amongst a row of sky scrapers. The lower level of the building was spread out like the hem of a skirt with the 42nd floor being made into a museum. From the first floor one could take a designated elevator straight to the museum, bypassing the other floors.

A group of people got off this elevator and headed directly towards the museum reception counter right in front of it. At the head of the group was an elderly lady purchasing her ticket. "Thank you for your patronage" said the receptionist lady as she bowed her head. The elderly lady bowed slightly back before heading to the viewing rooms.

In the hallway that led from the reception center to the exhibit rooms was a big window that gave a vast view of Tokyo. There, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta cried out in admiration.

"Whoa! We're high up~!"

"This is amazing!"

"Look! You can see Bell Tree Tower!"

"You're right!"

 **[80-81]**

Standing next to the kids, Professor Agasa gave a satisfied nod.

"You guys, didn't you come to see the _Sunflowers_?"

Conan said from behind them with an annoyed look. "Oh yeah," said Ayumi, remembering their initial purpose for coming.

"Alright, let's go see the _Sunflowers_!" Genta and Ayumi ran off. "Ah!" Mitsuhiko stretched out an arm after them.

"You two! You're not supposed to run!"

He said before running after them himself. "Jeez" Conan complained.

"Are those guys actually interested in the _Sunflowers_ "?

"Oh? They weren't the only ones who said they wanted to see the _Sunflowers_ , right Professor?"

Haibara said. "Yes" Professor Agasa nodded as he started to walk after the kids.

"It's important to prepare for the "Japan's Beloved _Sunflowers_ " exhibition when it opens."

"Like a preview?"

Conan grumbled. Haibara followed the professor.

"In any case, I didn't think that you'd come. Is it alright for you not to go to the meeting?"

"They've already got six professionals with them. More than that, I need to figure out what KID is planning. It's too strange for him to target anything outside of big jewels. Something's up…"

"So you've decided to get a look at Van Gogh's _Sunflowers_ for yourself then?"

"Yeah…"

Conan took out a ticket printed with a _Sunflowers_ design on it from his pocket and looked at it.

"Maybe if I learned more about them, I could figure out KID's motive…And then I may be able to read his next move…"

###

Ayumi, who had already circled around the museum suddenly stopped in her tracks, "Huh?"

"This is the end."

"So which one's the _Sunflowers?_ "

The three kids looked eagerly about the exhibition.

"Ah! There it is!" Mitsuhiko pointed towards the end corner of the room. On the other side of a big glass wall there were three paintings lined up. On the right was a picture of a tree-lined path in the countryside. On the left was a still life depicting an apple and a napkin. Finally, in the middle was a vase holding fifteen sunflowers.

"Wow~~~"

 **[82-83]**

"Where? Which one's the _Sunflowers_!?"

"This one right? The middle one."

Ayumi pointed at the middle painting.

"It's so pretty~"

"It's really amazing~"

"Right?" said Genta as he, Ayumi, and Mistuhiko pressed their noses up against the glass.

"Speaking of which, what exactly is so amazing about it again?"

"Uh…."

The other two kids gave him a flat look. "You guys," said Conan, coming up behind them.

"If you're not quiet they'll kick you out of here."

"O-kay~"

"Sorry for all the ruckus" Haibara apologized to the elderly woman wearing a kimono sitting on a bench in front of the paintings.

"It's fine."

The elderly lady smiled kindly and nodded at them. "Whoa~!" Just then the professor came up close to the Sunflowers and said in a loud voice. Conan and Haibara automatically frowned at him.

"So this is the rumored fifth _Sunflowers_. It's indeed very beautiful~"

"Hey, Professor!"

"If you're not quite they'll kick you out you know!"

The kids warned the Professor. "Oh, is that right?" he smiled embarrassedly. From behind him the elderly lady chuckled.

"Ah! I'm sorry that was rude of me," he said.

"Do not worry about it."

The woman looked at him with amusement in her eyes.

"Now let's go buy souvenirs!"

"Let's go let's go!"

"C'mon, let's hurry and go Professor"

"Hahaha…"

Conan and Haibara smiled wryly as they watched the Professor being pulled away by Mitsuhiko.

"Jeez, just what did those guys come here for anyways?"

While frowning, Conan walked up to the _Sunflowers_. Haibara folded her arms and watched him. After a bit, the older lady spoke to her.

"Young lady, it seems that something more intriguing than the _Sunflowers_ has caught your eye."

"Huh?"

 **[84-85]**

"It seems that you've been watching for quite a while."

As she said this the elderly lady cast her gaze on to Conan's back. Haibara's cheeks turned pink as she quickly looked away from Conan.

"Please forgive me. You just seemed so much like my old self that I couldn't leave it alone…"

"Uh….Obaasan do you come here often?"

"Yes, every day."

"You seem to really like Van Gogh's _Sunflowers."_

"That's right," said the lady though her expression clouded over.

"…but not this _Sunflowers_ ….."

As Haibara turned to look at the woman, a large group of people heading their way caught her eye. To her surprise Kogoro and Jirokichi were with them. Nakamori, other policemen, Charlie, and the curators were also there.

"It seems that it's not been touched."

"Ojisan! What's going on?"

Conan came running over to them in surprised. "Huh!?" Kogoro exclaimed as he frowned at the boy.

"What are _you_ doing here!?

"What about you?"

"Nice timing little guy!"

Said Jirokichi, noticing Conan's presence. "We'll include you as well!"

"It couldn't be that KID…!?"

"Yes, that guy's next target it-"

"Are you really going to talk about that _here_?"

"Oh right, sorry."

Jirokichi noticed the attention they were garnering from the other customers and quickly shut his mouth. The museum director turned to Kogoro and the others.

"As you can see, for the time being there are no problems with the painting. I'd like for us to not bother the customers any more than this, so let's move our discussion to the reception room."

"I understand, let's go back for the time being."

As Nakamori and the others turned to go back, Conan ran back up to Haibara.

"Haibara, I'm going with Ojisan and them. You go back together with the others. Also-"

"I know" Haibara smiled.

"Keep this a secret from the kids."

 **[86-87]**

"Yeah, I'm counting on you."

As Conan ran back to Kogoro's group, the elderly lady smiled at Haibara.

"It seems that you are quite depended on."

"We don't have the kind of relationship that you are-"

"No" the lady interrupted.

"You have the same eyes that I did seventy years ago. The exact same…"

The lady looked back to the _Sunflowers_. Haibara looked up, as if being pulled along with her.

"In the words of the sunflowers….'I will gaze only at you'…but you know what, if you only look, you will surely have regrets. Just like me."

Haibara looked in surprise at her as tears were gathering in the elderly lady's eyes.

"People first realize that something is important to them once it's lost….Just like that _Sunflowers…._ "

Haibara could only watch on in silence as the elderly lady sadly stared at the painting. Just then,

"Haibara! We're leaving!"

The kids, carrying their souvenirs, returned.

"Huh? Where's Conan?"

"Something urgent came up it seems."

"Really? _Again!?_ "

Haibara, who had started to walk towards the kids, stopped and turned back to the elderly woman.

"Thank you for the warning. I'll make sure I don't have any regrets."

The woman watched Haibara leave, slightly surprised, before turning her gaze back to the _Sunflowers_.

"….Kiyosuke-san…"

With pain deep in her eyes, the woman continued to sit on the bench for a long time.

###

"'Tonight I will come for the _La Berceuse_ 's left (the first copy). Kaitou KID.'"

Sitting in an armchair in the reception room, the museum director read aloud from a tablet.

"How does this notice mean that this museum's _Sunflowers_ will be targeted?

" _La Berceuse_ in Japanese is "The Woman Rocking the Cradle.' It's not the _Sunflowers_." The director and one of his subordinates raised their eyebrows. "La Berceuse" was a painting done by the wife of Joseph Roulin, a delivery man who was friends with Van Gogh. So how is this connected to the _Sunflowers_?"

 **[88-89]**

Sitting on the sofa to their right, Nakamori shook his head, "No."

"What's important is what comes after that. 'left (first copy)….."

"The left most likely is referring to is a 'triptych'."

From next to Nakamori, Kogoro continued,

"That's where there are three paintings that make a set-"

The director lifted a hand to stop him, "No, I know _that_."

"More importantly, why does the _La Berceuse_ have to be the _Sunflowers_?"

"Well that's…" Kogoro put a hand to his chin at the employee's questions.

"Why was that again….?

"Jeez, get yourself together man. You're a samurai right?"

Nakamori criticized Kogoro. Conan laughed humorlessly to himself.

"For a detailed decipherment of the notice, why don't we ask Azuma Kouji-san to explain?"

Charlie proposed to Kogoro and the others. From beside them, Jirokichi spoke up, "Oh! That's right" he said, looking up at the Kouji who stood with the other curators around the sofa.

"It's fine, right Azuma?"

"Sure. Assuming that Detective Mouri's hypothesis of the 'triptych" is correct, imagine putting the _La Berceuse's_ painting in the middle of a set. Which paintings would be on the left and right of it….?"

The director's eyes opened wide at Kouji's explanation.

Speaking of Van Gogh's 'triptych', it was written by Van Gogh in a letter to his brother that when being put up for decoration, the _La Berusuzu_ should be placed in the middle with a _Sunflowers_ on either side of it.

"The _Sunflowers…._ "

"Yes" Kouji nodded.

"In his letter to his little brother Theo he even went so far as to draw an illustration of what he wanted, so there is no doubt about it. Gogh thought that placing _Sunflowers_ on either side of the _La Berusuzu_ would make them like wings that made the painting stand out even more. And of the seven _Sunflowers_ , the ones that look like wings are the ones that are drawn with tilting stems. Which would mean the _Sunflowers_ that are meant to be placed on either side of _La Berceuse_ would be the third and seventh painting on the right, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth on the left. The fifth and the sixth painting Van Gogh drew while looking at the fourth – in other words, they are copies. And of these they are both found on the left side. And as KID wrote in his notice, the 'first copy' would make his target be the fifth _Sunflowers,_ which is exhibited at this very museum.

"I see" said the director, who had closed his eyes and was nodding at the explanation.

"It seems that indeed the _Sunflowers_ at this museum is being targeted…"

"So then…" The subordinate, now persuaded by Kouji's explanation, then looked at Nakamori.

"What is it that we should be doing…? According to KID's notice, he's coming tonight."

 **[90-91]**

"We need to move the _Sunflowers_ to a safe place immediately."

"As one would expect, moving it immediately is a little…."

Though the employee seemed to be at a loss, the director raised his hand, "I understand."

"We will explain the situation to our customers and close the museum as soon as possible.'

"Thank you very much for your cooperation."

"However, moving a painting such as the _Sunflowers_ won't be that easy."

"Nevertheless moving it within an hour would be…"

At the director and his subordinate's troubled expression, Jirokichi let out a confident grin.

"You do not need to worry about something like that. Isn't that right Ishimine? With your experience and knowledge it should be possible to move the _Sunflowers_ by sundown."

From where he stood behind Kouji, Ishimine gave an enthusiastic reply, "Yessir!"

###

The museum had been closed early. The base of the building was surrounded by police cars that were stopped with their lights flashing. What's more is that in the air above the building there were police and news helicopters flying about.

Inside the building, Ishimine's company's staff, the museum director, and Nakamori and his men were watching over the _Sunflowers_ being removed from its place on the wall.

"Yes, very good. Slowly now. That's it. "

Ishimine was giving out orders from nearby as his staff carried the painting. Nakamori and Kogoro were impressed by the promptness and accuracy of the task being carried out.

"As expected of the Cheetah Delivery Service. To have gotten this far in only thirty minutes…."

"There's an hour before sundown….It seems that we'll be able to make it in time somehow."

At Ishimine's order, the _Sunflowers_ was gently rested on the ground. Keiko then stepped up.

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Let's see…could you bring the lid over here as we start wrapping this?"

"Got it. Natsumi, let's carry the lid."

Keiko and Natusmi went to the further end of the exhibition room. They made to pick up the lid from where a security guard was standing nearby.

"Oh! I'll help."

The security guard bent down to touch the lid, but-

"Wait! We will do it."

Kumiko and Kouji ran over.

"Ishimine won't like it if anyone other than our team members get involved."

"That's right. But we appreciate the offer."

The security guard took a step back as Kumiko and Kouji bent to lift the lid.

"Are you ready? Let's lift it on three."

 **[92-93]**

At Kumiko's signal, the four of them lifted the lid together. They slowly made their way towards the stand. The wrapping of the _Sunflowers_ was already finished.

"We've brought the lid."

"Oh, thanks. Leave the rest to us."

Ishimine walked towards the lid. Charlie, from where he stood watching over the operation, turned his head towards Nakamori.

"Don't you think that it's about time we went to check on the safe?"

"Oh, that's right."

Nakamori nodded his head and started over to the director "Director, do you have a moment?"

Conan, from where he stood next to Kogoro watching over things, put a hand to his chin in thought.

 _It's just as Charlie said. As long as the notice is stated for tonight, it's unmistakable that KID would need to steal the painting from the safe._

Just as the Cheetah Delivery Service staff were picking up the lid to put it over the _Sunflowers_ in its case, something dropped to the floor.

"Oh, sorry."

It was Ishimine's smart phone. Even though Natsumi made to pick it up, Ishimine got there first.

"It's not a problem, please continue."

"Yes."

As the staff were lowering the lid right in front of Conan, he spotted something that looked like a card stuck to the underside of the lid.

"Wait! There's something on the lid!"

"Hey! Brat!"

Kogoro quickly grabbed the boy by the collar and lifted him into the air.

"Don't you realize there's no time? Stop making a ruckus!"

"But it looked like a KID card…!"

"Is that true little guy!?"

Jirokichi's eyes lit up at Conan's words.

"Ishimine, let's look at the underside of the lid!"

"Y-yes sir. Lift up the lid."

Obeying his orders, the staff lifted up the lid and started to turn it over.

"Ah…!"

Natsumi and Ishimine, from where they were bent over near the case noticed the car and stood up.

Natsumi grabbed the card that had be stuck to the lid with tape.

"It's a card! Could it be…!?"

"Natsumi, come here!"

 **[94-95]**

Nakamori quickly ran over and took the card from Natusmi. On the front of it was the little KID mark that was always there.

"There's no doubt. It's a KID card."

He turned the card over.

" _I have indeed taken the Sunflowers. Kaitou KID."_

After reading the message aloud, Nakamori raised an eyebrow.

"Taken it…? But it's right here isn't it!?"

"Only that? Was that the only thing written on the card?"

Conan asked, having escaped from Kogoro's hands. "Yes" Nakamori nodded. Jirokichi looked puzzled.

"What does this mean!?"

"It can't be that the _Sunflowers_ here is a…."

At Charlie's words, Kogoro turned towards the painting.

"You're saying it's a fake!?"

Everyone looked started at the painting. From a bit further away where he had his arm rested on the transportation caret, the corners of the security guard's mouth lifted.

The _Sunflowers_ was then taken to the security room. Under the surveillance of the rest of the group, Natsumi used a scoop to begin appraising the painting. As she leaned closer to look through the scoop, Jirokichi sucked in a breath.

"To think that KID would lie about the time he'd appear…"

"Yeah, it's something we'd never expect from KID until now."

"He did it in order to neatly fool us."

Charlie raised an eyebrow at the Jirokichi, who looked discouraged along with Kogoro and Nakamori.

"At the very least that man is a thief….What are you expecting from someone like him? He'll do anything to steal what he wants. Even if it meant killing someone."

The director and his subordinate's eyes widened at Charlie's statement. Just then Natsumi lifted her head from the painting.

"How does it look?"

The director asked uneasily.

"If it's a fake, it's a really well made one. It's difficult to appraise it accurately here."

"I see…"

"Is it possible to leave it with me temporarily? I can take it to my company's studio where we can give it an exact appraisal."

 **[96-97]**

The director paused a moment at Natsumi's proposal before agreeing, "Understood."

"As it's quite plausible he could have switched it with a fake, I think I can get permission from our superiors."

Just then the security guard who had been standing towards the back until that moment pushed aside the subordinate and walked up close to the director.

"That won't be necessary, director." He said.

"What's the meaning of this?" Shouted the director.

"Hey you! That's rude!" scolded the subordinate.

The security guard stepped to avoid the subordinate and grinned as he held up a card. Seeing a certain mark on the card, the director raised his voice.

"Th-that's a KID card!

 _What-!?_

Under the eyes of Conan and the others, the security guard put the card in the director's pocket and patted it lightly.

 _I see, having to appraise the painting in the first place is a part of KID's trap-!_

"That _Sunflowers_ is without a doubt the real deal. I guarantee it!"

Pushing the director away from him, the security guard quickly put a hand to his own clothes. The garments were thrown into the air and under them appeared Kaitou KID dressed in his pure white suit.

"KID! You! How dare you try and trick us!"

In the moment that Nakamori leapt towards him, KID fired his card gun at the monitors. Don Don Don! The cards smashed into the monitors one after another. From the damaged monitors came smoke and fragments that burst forth. Natsumi and Kouji impulsively made to cover the _Sunflowers_ in order to protect it. But just then a wire wrapped itself around their bodies and they cried out.

"Azuma-san! Miyadai-san! Are you okay!?"

Conan ran towards them where they had been tied together by the wire and were now sitting on the floor.

"Yeah, but never mind us, the _Sunflowers_ was taken!"

"Go catch KID!"

Just as Conan made to chase after KID, the thief threw a smoke bomb onto the desk. Along with a bursting sound the smoke quickly filled up the room, blocking everyone's vision and causing them to cough. KID used that moment to open the door and rushed out into the hallway.

"Wait! KID-!"

Charlie followed Conan out of the room while coughing and the two started their pursuit of KID.

###

" _This is Nakamori! KID's taken the_ Sunflowers _and is making his escape. There is a high chance that he will appear on the roof. Everyone be on your guard!"_

"Yessir!"

 **[98-99]**

The Metropolitan Police helicopters flying about the building turned on their spotlights. The lights revealed KID's form standing on top of the stairwell-room that lead out to the roof.

"We found KID! He's on the highest part of the roof!"

Conan and Charlie burst through from the door of the stair-room and looked up at KID bathed in light.

KID gave a fearless grin and snapped his fingers. A pashu, pashu sound rang about and from behind KID burst forth a stream of smoke.

"This is bad! He's gonna get away!"

Charlie unthinkingly reached for the holder in his breast pocket, but as this was Japan, of course there was no gun in it.

"Dammit, if I just had my gun….."

The smoke spread out endlessly from KID, covering the roof in an instant. The pilots of the helicopters were now unable to see KID's form.

"Kid has lunched numerable flying objects! We're unable to find him!"

While running about the roof, Conan activate his criminal tracking glasses and zoomed in on the sky upwards. At the end of the different streams of smoke sprouting out in all four directions were white hang gliders. On each one was a doll that resembled KID.

From the midst of them he spotted a new hang glider, under which he could see the real KID holding a canvas.

"That's…!?"

Conan removed his hand from his glasses. He cursed and clenched his teeth.

"He got us…"

"Where is that guy!?

Charlie came running up behind him, but Conan just shook his head.

"It' already too late…."

Charlie watched KID's form getting smaller from the edge of the roof. His face contorted as he cursed.

"I can't believe that guy….just as he proclaimed, he came and stole it at night…."

Kogoro and the other officers arrived belatedly onto the rooftop. They saw the multiple dummies going off in all directions and began to make a fuss. The two pursuers stared on in anguish.

* * *

Hahahaha, Face it guys, you just cant win against KID. You know why? Cuz he's just AWESOME like that muahahahah.

Thanks for reviewing! I will try to respond to the new reviews shortly. And a big thanks to those sharing their impressions. It makes me feel like Im rewatching the movie with you all. ^_^v

Next Chap: Some more exciting KID outsmarting everyone and their mom action. Plus a scene that was missing from the movie!? You lucky readers you!


	7. Chapter 7

**Sunflowers 7**

 **Disclaimer:** See first chapter.

 **Translation Notes:**

This chapter is very late. Excuses. Reasons. More excuses. More reasons. Apologies. Forgiveness requested.

OMG missing scene! (or deleted scene?) So thrilled! The events in the very last few pages were not shown in the movie. Maybe it was a deleted scene!? This makes me hope that the scenes that were included in the trailer, yet I don't remember seeing in the movie all four times I watched it, may be in the book! KYAA!

Also lots of weird punctuation I'm keeping from the book. It's strange to read but I'm keeping them cuz they're interesting lol.

* * *

 **[100-101]**

After KID had made a clean get away with the _Sunflowers_ , everyone gathered back in the reception room of the art museum for the time being.

"This is the card that KID put into my breast pocket."

The director handed the card to Nakamori, who was sitting on the sofa across from him.

" _I will hand over the_ Sunflowers _I have just taken for a humble price of 10 billion yen. In two hours, let's meet at the Touto Plaza Hotel in room 1412. Have the money prepared in cash and put the bills in open suitcases upon the bed. If you are unable to do so, then we have no deal 〰Phantom Thief KID_ _㈏5"_

Nakamori's shoulders shook as he finished reading the card aloud.

"10 billion yen in two hours he says~~~~~~~!"

"It seems that KID's aim since the beginning was money…."

Kogoro seemed unconvinced as he said this after taking a peek at the card for himself from where he sat on the back sofa.

Jirokichi was seated next to him. A wrinkle formed on his forehead. "Hmmm….."

For KID, who supposedly only targets big jewels, to go after a painting and then demand money in return – Conan was doubtful at this un-Kid like behavior.

 _Why has KID suddenly changed this much? …..There has to be some kind of reason….maybe he's a fake…._

"That _Sunflowers_ is the highlight of our museum. Please we have to get it back!"

At the director's plea, Nakamori spoke up in a fake cheery voice.

"I'm pretty sure there's only _one_ person who can fulfill his demands so quickly in all of Japan~"

Everyone turned their heads to Jirokichi….and the corners of the old man's mouth lifted.

"Very well. I will prepare the money."

"Really!?"

"But I have some conditions."

Jirokichi stared fixedly at the director in front of him.

"In the wake of retrieving the _Sunflowers_ safely, I'd like for you to allow me to borrow it to put on display at my exhibition."

"But of course! If you can really get it back, I'm sure my superiors would have no qualms with allowing that."

"In that case, do you think this museum could help with persuading the other five owners?"

"I understand, I will do my best."

 **[102-103]**

"Very well!"

Jirokichi offered his right hand to the director and the two shook firmly on it. "Alright then" said Nakamori as he stood up.

"Negotiations are a successfully finished! My men and I will head out to the hotel immediately. Director, as soon as you're finished with your preparations, please come over as soon as possible as well."

"O-Okay."

As Nakamori and his men made to leave the room, Charlie stepped forward.

"Are you going on ahead, too, Charlie?"

"No. I need to go retrieve something essential."

"Essential?"

Nakamori asked. Charlie stopped in front of the door and gave a small nod, "Yes."

"Yes, something indispensable to the capture of KID."

Conan looked at him from the side. He remembered the empty holster that Charlie had reached for on the roof.

 _Does he mean his gun….?_

"Understood. In that case, please return by the time of the transaction."

"Don't worry. I will most definitely be back in time."

Once the door was closed, the director looked at Jirokichi with an obliging face, "Umm…."

"If possible, I have one more request I'd like to make….."

"What is it? Try me."

At this the director leaned forward.

"There's someone I'd very much like to introduce the phantom sunflower exhibit to."

"Yes? And that would be….?"

To Jirokichi's inquiry, the director pushed up his glasses.

"Ever since having put the _Sunflowers_ on display at this museum, there's been this elderly lady who has made the trip almost every day to come view it…"

Conan suddenly remembered the elderly lady who had been sitting on the bench in front of the _Sunflowers._

"That lady, she came today too didn't she?"

The director looked at Conan and nodded, "Yes, that's right." He turned his head back to Jirokichi.

"I don't know if it's because she has some significant memory associated with it or something, but she always comes to stare at only the _Sunflowers._ She always looks so sad, and doesn't even spare any other painting a single glance."

"I understand."

Jirokichi replied immediately. The director's face lit up.

"Thank you so much!"

###

Charlie had taken the elevator down to the first floor. He entered a pay phone box nearby the building.

 **[104-105]**

He took the receiver and pressed the buttons. It rang several times before a voice familiar to him picked up on the other end.

"It's me. As I thought, I'll be needing _that._ Please prepare it for me immediately."

" _Are you sure about that? In this country, possession alone is a crime you know."_

"I don't care. There's no way I can just let a terrorist who blew up a plane do as he likes."

The man he spoke to on the other end let out a chuckle at the conviction in Charlie's voice.

" _Very well. It'll be ready shortly._ "

"Thank you, Mark. Have it in an hour at the parking lot behind Touto Plaza Hotel."

" _Got it."_

Charlie hung up the phone, left the booth, and walked out into the crowd.

###

There were two large trucks parked outside the front of the Touto Plaza Hotel. Moreover black-painted high-class cars came and stopped themselves around the trucks one after another. The customers standing near the entrance of the hotel watched and wondered what was going on as they saw men dressed in black take out duralumin cases and carry them through the lobby. The men held the cases in both hands as they filed onto the elevator. Just as they went up, the elevator next to theirs would open and more men in black would come rushing out and run pass even more men coming in with even more duralumin cases.

In the shadow of a pillar in the lobby there was a man reading a newspaper. He folded it and stuck it under his arm. Putting a hand to his collar, he spoke.

"Entrance lobby reporting. Nothing out of the ordinary."

###

To the security room of the hotel came the multiple reports of policemen disguised in civilian clothing and deployed throughout the building.

" _Emergency exit stairs. There are no suspicious persons."_

" _Employee entrance, please send personnel."_

" _Roof group, arriving shortly."_

In front of the monitor stood Nakamori, Kogoro, and Jirokichi, staring at the surveillance cameras with bitter expressions.

"Arrrgh, curse it! We won't make it in time at this pace."

The door opened and Charlie came in.

"I apologize for the delay. Inspector Nakamori, how is the security?"

"We've deployed men at all entrances and exits."

"If he's already within the building, then there's no point."

"Even still we won't repeat the same mistake as last time. We most definitely won't allow that guy to escape from this hotel…!"

Putting his hands up in the air, Nakamori turned his back on Charlie and continued to glare at the monitor.

###

The men in black continued to carry the duralumin cases into the guest room in the hotel. Other men in casual clothes opened the cases and took out the wads of bills and placed them on the bed.

 **[106-107]**

"Hurry up! There's no time!"

"Keep carrying them in!"

The director sat on a sofa by the bed and stared at the cops' activities nervously. Letting out a breath he reached over to take his plastic bottle of mineral water in hand. Then turning his attention to the earphone in his left ear he called out to Nakamori.

"Umm….Are we really able to carry out negotiations in this situation?"

" _It's KID's demands. We have no choice but to follow them. More importantly from here on out please don't talk to us carelessly. If KID finds out about our presence, all our efforts will go down the drain."_

"O-Okay."

The director scanned his eyes around the room unthinkingly while taking a few gulps of his mineral water.

##

In the security room the monitors displayed footage from the multiple mini-cameras set up in the hotel room. Watching the wads of bills being put on the bed one after another, Kogoro tilted his head.

"Seriously, why is it necessary for us to take out all that money and put it in a place like that?"

"It can't be helped. It's KID's demands after all."

From behind Nakamori and Kogoro, Conan scuttled about trying to see the monitors.

"Uwaa!"

Charlie had reached down to pick Conan up suddenly. Kogoro glared at the boy.

"Brat! Be quiet!"

"Okaaaay…."

"Do you want to see the monitors?"

"Y-yeah."

At Conan's answer, Charlie put the boy down on a chair in front of a computer. "Wait a moment." He clicked the mouse before bringing up the footage from the surveillance cameras onto the computer screen.

"Thank you. You're really nice."

"I just want to borrow your skills. You have shown me your talent in observation and cleverness. It's no wonder you are called the 'Kid Killer'."

"I-It's just luck."

At being looked at with such a piercing gaze, Conan panicked a bit and turned his eyes away to look in front of him.

"I'm still just an elementary school student and all."

"I don't have those kinds of prejudices. If you see something off, tell me. Okay?"

"Okaaay…."

Conan watched Charlie return to the main monitors before looking back again at the computer screen.

 **[108-109]**

The screen was divided in to six sections showing the bathroom, closet, hallways, etc., from the various places where the cameras were set up.

 _For 10 billion yen, it would be more normal to require that amount of money to be wired to an overseas bank account. There has to be some kind of purpose behind demanding it to be set out in cash…._

"Wh-Wha~t! The mass media has gathered~~~~!"

Nakamori suddenly shouted from in front of the monitors, pressing against his earphone.

"What's the meaning of this!? We're the only ones who're supposed to be aware of this transaction!"

" _I know sir, but reporters from all papers and channels are pressing in on us. Already the parking lot has gotten out of control!"_

" _Front-Left Entrance, reporting. The mass media have started broadcasting!"_

Nakamori stared at a computer set in front of the big monitors. On the screen it showed a news channel reporting with its background as the Touto Plaza Hotel.

"Dammit! That stupid KID. Is he trying to use the mass media to cause confusion!?"

"Inspector Nakamori."

Charlie called out to him. The inspector took his hand off the computer and turned around.

"If KID notified them himself then there's no way he'll call off the negotiation even if they cause a ruckus."

"Yes" Jirokichi nodded at Charlie's words. To their side Kogoro looked at his watch.

"More importantly we've got no more time! Let's stop with taking out the money already."

Also looking at his watch Nakamori clenched his teeth.

"Two minutes 'til…fine then. Just leave the case lids open. Everyone leave that area!"

###

Hearing Nakamori's orders, the policemen immediately ceased their activities.

"Director! We're going on standby in the room across the hall!"

"U-umm!" The director called, rising slightly from his seat as the policemen headed for the door.

"Stay right there please."

The cops weaved their way through the open duralumin cases and ran out into the hallway. The very last man tripped over the rubber lining the bottom frame of the doorway.

"Hurry!"

Quickly standing up straight again, the cop closed the door and headed to the opposing room.

###

Just as the police had left, a red light started to blink on a machine set in the back of the ventilation opening. It let out a low rumbling sound as the mechanism started operating itself.

Left alone in the room, the director let out another breath. He wiped away some sweat pouring down his face.

"In any case it's really hot in here…Can't I at least open the window?"

 **[110-111]**

He looked around the room as Nakamori's voice came through his ear phone.

" _Please put up with it just a bit longer. There's no guarantee that KID will enter through the door after all."_

"O-Okay."

Sweat continued to roll down his face as the director turned to look at the money piled onto the bed.

###

" _Everyone has cleared the area."_

"Great, the going's good." Nakamori said upon receiving the report. He looked at the monitor.

"Each group stay where you are until you receive an order from me."

Conan glanced at Nakamori before turning back to stare at the computer monitor.

 _This is KID we're talking about. He definitely has some sort of trick set up somewhere. I've got to figure it out before the transaction begins._

He paid close attention to each camera's footage. On the top-center of the six screens depicted the sweating director sitting on the sofa.

 _What is this….something feels off. Something has changed, it's different than before..._

The director sighed and put his hand on the table, slightly shaking the water inside the plastic bottle. The second Conan registered the plastic bottle – the hairs stood up on his body.

 _Crap! So that's what's going on!_

Conan jumped from his seat and ran for the door. Charlie, who had been focusing on the monitors, heard the sound of the opening door and turned around.

"Darn it!"

He saw the empty seat and the door left open. He ran out, but quickly returned to look at the key box to the side of the door. There was only one key missing from its place.

"That kid! He took the master key…!"

###

Conan dashed from the security room and headed for the elevators. He had to jump up in order to press the elevator button. He then took out the watch he had stored in his pockets.

"Damn it there's no time! Hurry up and come!"

He stared at the elevator numbers in irritation.

"KID Killer!"

Charlie ran over to him.

"What happened?"

"Just come on"

Conan leapt into the elevator. Charlie stared at Conan intently as the doors closed and the elevator began to rise.

"Explain to me."

 **[112-113]**

"The water level in the director's plastic bottle had risen. Most likely the air pressure in the room has risen greatly."

"What is that guy planning to do!?"

Conan shook his head. "I don't know."

"But if we don't return the air pressure back to normal straightaway then things will go just the way KID wants it."

###

Standing in front of the monitor, Nakamori looked at his watch. There was only a minute before the promised time. Suddenly the footage of the fourteenth floor hallway showed Conan and Charlie running through. "Oi oi oi oi oi!" Nakamori grabbed his head.

"What are those guys doing!? Are they planning on ruining everything!? We've only got twenty seconds until the transaction begins~!"

###

Charlie arrived in front of room 1412, inserted the card key, and turned the doorknob.

"Shit it won't open!"

"The difference in air pressure is pushing against the door from the inside!"

"Was this that guy's plan!?"

Conan watched on intently as Charlie slammed his whole body against the door.

 _No…To just lock the door he wouldn't have had to set up such a big trick. What in the world is that guy trying to do….?_

###

Nakamori pounded his fist onto the desk while watching the two on the monitor screen.

"Those guys, just doing whatever they please~~~~~!"

"There's nothing we can do. We have a full ten seconds left, we have to continue like this!

With Jirokichi's words, Nakamori clenched his teeth and stared at his watch.

"Five seconds left. Four…Three…Two…One…Zero!"

###

Small explosives had been placed outside the window to the room where the transaction was to take place. The second the counter hit zero –Boom! Small explosions burst forth, shattering the glass.

All at once the air in the room was sucked outside, creating a strong gust of wind within the room.

"Ahhh!"

To not be blown off his feet, the director braced himself firmly to the ground. All of the paper bills on the bed beside him whirled up into the air and flew outside the window-!

###

"Money! It's money-!"

The press broadcasting in front of the hotel witnessed the bills being blown out from the window. It caused a ruckus to start all at once.

 **[114-115]**

"It this KID's doing!?"

The enthusiastic news reporters pressed against the policemen who were trying their best to hold them back.

"It's bad, sir! Large amounts of money are being scattered outside!"

From the policemen's wireless Nakamori's shout could be heard, "What did you say~~~~~!"

###

Charlie continued to push against the door with all his might. The door began to make a sputtering _gugugu_ sound.

"Alright, It's gonna open!"

"Okay!"

Conan prepared his stun watch, flipping up the sighter. As Charlie managed to force-push the door open, loads of paper bills came flying at once in their direction.

Conan gasped.

The papers swirled around Conan who had dashed into the room, blocking his vision. Charlie pulled the gun from his breast and aimed it towards the window.

"Ahhh!"

The director let out a scream after suddenly having a gun pointed at him and he fell onto his bottom. Then, from the other side of the flying papers – suspended by his wire-gun, was KID who had landed on the railing of the veranda.

"KID-!"

At the same moment Conan shouted out, Charlie pointed his gun at him. KID merely grinned dauntlessly.

Bang! Bang! The sound of gunshots rang out. The bullets that Charlie let loose managed to hit nothing but air through the swirling paper bills. In front of them KID's form had vanished.

"Damn that KID….!"

Charlie growled irritably as he lowered his gun. Conan regarded Charlie, who had so unwaveringly pointed and shot his gun at KID, with an arcane expression.

###

"Ah! It's KID!"

The press that were gathered in front of the hotel looked up to see a white hang glider flying away.

"It seems that our intelligence was true and KID really did make a transaction with the Suzuki plutocracy."

"Did he have the _Sunflowers!?_ "

"He's getting away!"

KID flew back around to where the TV cameras were pointing. He stuck up his pointer and middle finger and saluted them.

###

Charlie returned his gun to its holster. He approached the director, who was crouched down on the floor littered with bills.

"Are you hurt at all?"

"Ah, no…."

"KID brought the painting with him didn't he?"

"Uh, I don't know…"

Conan walked around the roughed up room. The curtains had been torn and money and duralumin cases were scattered about the floor and bed. The picture used as decoration above the bed's head board – one of Leonardo Da Vinci's _The Last Supper_ , was partially ripped away.

Conan spotted a piece of a canvas sticking out from under where the painting had peeled away from the wall.

"Charlie-san! Over there! Look at the picture above the bed!"

Just as Charlie lifted his head and noticed the canvas, Nakamori burst into the room.

"You guys~! You _dare_ to ruin –"

In that second a pale Jirokichi pushed his way in past Nakamori.

"Charlie! That guy is- Where is KID!?"

"I apologize. He made his escape."

Charlie indicated towards the balcony strewn with broken window glass pieces.

"So then the _Sunflowers_ is…"

"It's okay. The _Sunflowers_ is here safe."

Conan said looking at the head board of _The Last Supper._ Charlie got on the bed and forcefully tore off the rest of the painting. Under it appeared – the _Sunflowers_ turned onto its side.

"Oh! Well if it isn't the _Sunflowers_!"

"You were able to get it back!?"

Nakamori inquired, to which Charlie responded with a nod. "Yes" He looked at the bills on the bed.

"But the money…"

"Don't worry, don't worry. It's fine!"

Jirokichi shook his head fiercely to the left and right. He raised his fist passionately into the air."

"It's time for a press conference!"

###

A large number of reporters were gathered in front of the entrance to the Touto Plaza hotel. Their cameras were all focused on the Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum's _Sunflowers_ that had just been retrieved from KID. Jirokichi, Nakamori, and Kogoro were standing next to the _Sunflowers_. "Consult Suzuki!" One of the female reporters pointed her mic at the man.

"How do you feel after becoming once again victorious from a confrontation with the Kaitou KID?"

"There's nothing to fear from someone like KID. The owners of the _Sunflowers_ should also be at ease."

 **[118-119]**

Jirokichi threw his head back and let out a great laugh, bathing in the constant flashes of the news cameras. From the shadows of the pillar in the lobby, Conan looked on at the press conference, unconvinced.

 _What is this, this overly-elaborate development…._

With Jirokichi having been able to safely retrieve the _Sunflowers,_ not only the Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum, but all the other owners would now have no qualms about lending out their _Sunflowers_

Then again, why did KID, who only targets big jewels, go after a _Sunflowers_ a second time in the first place? The more he thought about everything, the more things didn't make any sense to him.

###

The next day found Jirokichi, Charlie, Kogoro, the museum director and Conan gathered at a meeting at the Metropolitan Police Department. The police had just informed them of the pressurization mechanism they discovered that had been set up in the hotel room.

"Pressurization machine!?"

"Yes. It's a device to control the air pressure in places like airplane cabins. In this case it was set up in the ventilator."

On the white board was taped up a picture of said machine. Looking at it, Kogoro raised an eyebrow.

"You mean that kind of thing had been there the whole time and no one noticed…?"

Nakamori glared at Kogoro from beside him, "Of course not."

"We had our hands full setting up cameras and carrying in money."

In this conference room, the desks were arranged in a katakana コ shape. Sitting opposite to Nakamori, Kogoro, Conan, and the museum director was Jirokichi and Charlie.

"Not being given enough time to sweep the area…surely that was calculated in KID's plan as well."

Jirokichi nodded in agreement with Charlie.

"In any case, can such a phenomenon as last night really occur with just a mere difference in air pressure?"

"Well, we had our doubts about that as well so we did some research to see if such a phenomenon could truly be artificially made."

As the policeman standing in front of the whiteboard said this, another cop brought out and opened his notebook.

"To give you an easy to understand example, the fresh air that is created in a domed baseball stadium and its difference in air pressure is at most 0.3%. And yet the wind that passes through the entrances and exits is very strong. With a small room like the one in the hotel, it would have been a simple task to create a 0.3% difference in air pressure within a very short time."

"What's more is that to increase this effect in a closed room, KID lined the window frame with tape and put rubber in the open space between the door and the floor in order to prevent any air leaks."

The police officer's pointer finger stopped on some pictures taken of the hotel room's window frame's tape and the rubber in the crack under the door. "I see" Nakamori said while looking at the pictures and nodding.

"He basically created a completely air-tight space in that closed room…"

 **[120-121]**

"So _that's_ why it was so hot!?"

At the director's words, Kogoro remembered seeing the director and the policemen on the monitor.

"Now that you mention it, everyone sure was sweating a lot….."

Jirokichi, sitting with his arms folded, turned to look at Charlie.

"Charlie, when you ran out of the security room, was it because you noticed this trap?"

Charlie looked directly in front at Conan. When Conan avoided his gaze he replied, "Yes."

"I saw that the water level in the director's plastic bottle had risen."

"As expected of New York Police's number one cop! Little guy you did good to notice as well!"

"I just followed Charlie-san is all"

Conan said with a fake smile. From beside him, Kogoro looked at him, unamused and with the corners of his mouth turned down. Nakamori spoke up, "But still,"

"Why did KID do such a thing?"

"Is it because his plan to collect the money from outside failed….?"

Conan knitted his eyebrows at Kogoro and Nakamori's words.

 _Is that really the case? To actually be able to make away with such an enormous amount of cash, he'd need an even bigger trick….Also there has to be some kind of reason why KID himself had called the mass media over. Didn't he merely just make a spectacle out of his own loss? And to only appear once the paper bills that had been so neatly set out had been scattered about…._

Conan thought through carefully each on every one of KID's incomprehensible actions before his eyes suddenly shot wide open.

 _It can't be! Was it all on purpose….!? But why would he….!?_

"The painting that the _Sunflowers_ was hid behind, had that painting initially been put up there?"

"No. It seems that originally there was nothing there."

The police officer answered. Kogoro looked at Charlie dubiously.

"Why are you so concerned about it?"

"Ah, no, it's just I felt it seemed way too large for concealing the _Sunflowers_ …..was there a reason for him to prepare a painting that was so difference in size…?"

Leonardo Da Vinci's painting, _The Last Supper,_ that was used to hide the _Sunflowers_ had been quite a long painting. Even with turning the _Sunflowers_ on its side there was plenty of extra room.

"You're thinking too much. It was clearly chosen at random."

"Isn't it because that was the only painting he had at hand?"

Both Kogoro and Nakamori spoke up to dismiss Charlie's concern.

"If that's really the case then it's fine. From picture you all have painted to me of KID, it was just my impression that he's been taking too many pointless actions."

 **[122-123]**

The officer standing in front of the whiteboard took out his notebook once again. "Speaking of pointless actions…"

"When the fifth _Sunflowers_ was stolen, it seems there were traces of the underground safe being hacked."

"More than pointless, isn't that just a change in plans?"

Kogoro said simply. Nakamori put a hand to his chin, "That's right, at that time…"

"Because there was a possibility of the painting being switched with a fake, we rushed to have it quickly appraised. Since Azuma-san and Miyadai-san are very careful with their work, their operations took quite a bit of time. Therefore, in order to keep to the time he said he'd steal the painting in his notice, KID had no choice but to move his plans up. His initial plan was to steal the painting from the safe, so there's no question about the system hacking.

"That's what I'm saying! You guys keep looking too much into the little stuff."

"Uh, right," the police officer shrugged at Kogoro and Nakamori's words.

 _Though it's true we should consider there was a sudden change in plans, there are still some major flaws in that theory._

Conan remembered the notice that KID had sent Kogoro.

 _KID had initially set the time he'd steal the painting for tonight. So there would have been no reason for him to forcibly move up his plans. So then why…_

As Conan thought things over, Jirokichi stood up.

"Well, in any case we were victorious in this confrontation against KID. We were able to safely retrieve the _Sunflowers!_ Everyone you did a great job! I'll be counting on you from here on out!"

Jirokichi's great laugh echoed throughout the conference room.

* * *

Jirokichi likes to laugh a lot. He's like a villain.

I can see why they took this scene out. It's just them taking time to notice the stuff the audience has already noticed lol. But that makes it more mystery-like I guess. I was always wondering about the media though, they never really got in to that. But I get it now!

It's my personal opinion that Inspector Nakamori is actually smarter than Kogoro. When he's not fuming about KID, he's usually a rather reasonable and tolerable guy, plus responsible when it comes to his work. Though he's not right, he makes more sense than Kogoro anyways.

Still they're both idiots. KID _never_ makes any "pointless actions." Really Charlie knows KID the least of them, but he's definitely more keen on KID's actions than they are. It's only his morals that are questionable…

So I've been procrastinating like, a lot. The next chap ain't done yet… but I'll hurry! Really! I will!

Really!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** As always.

The end is in sight!

Chapter 8 isn't so bad, about 20-something pages. Chapter 9 is gonna be a killer, like it's 70 pages alone, more than most of the other chapters combined so I'm prolly gonna break it into two parts. And chapter 10 is like…nothing. It's the scene after the credits lol.

 **Translator's notes:** *sigh* I really wished they'd went with the Lake Lock translation rather than the Lake Rock one for this museum. Lake Rock is just so dull, but Lake Lock would be perfect all things considered. -_-;; But unfortunately it's officially Lake Rock.

And despite being short, this chapter was the biggest pain to translate since the auction scenes. Sooooo many boring explanations!

Also, another possible missing scene alert: see commentary at the end of the chapter.

* * *

 **8**

 **[124-125]**

News of having been able to retrieve a stolen _Sunflowers_ a second time spread across the world instantly. The mass media was all over Jirokichi and his Lake Lock Exhibition's special feature. What's more is that with the endorsement of Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum's endorsement, Jirokichi was finally able to call out to and gather all seven of the _Sunflowers_ to Japan.

Having the opening date of the _Sunflowers_ Exhibition decided on, Jirokichi, along with Sonoko appeared on the News channel. They were seated on some sofas arrange in the shape of the character ハ, with an MC and a commentator sitting opposite to them. In the center in between them was a monitor featuring "The Opening of the _Japan's Beloved Sunflowers Exhibition_ Official!" in big letters.

"We have here with us the instigators of 'Japan's Beloved _Sunflowers_ Exhibition', Mr. Suzuki Jirokichi and his niece, Suzuki Sonoko, of the Suzuki Plutocracy Consulting Group. Now, will you please share with us the reason why you decided to put on such a large-scale exhibition?"

"Van Gogh himself found inspiration by the bright light of Japan he saw through an Ukiyo-e (Wood-block printing). He attempted to pursue this brightness when he headed for the town of Areles, borrowing a yellow house, and planning to paint 12 _Sunflowers_ pictures to hang on his walls."

As Sonoko spoke these words, the front monitor showed the scenery of the Southern province town Areles and the yellow house.

"So we have decided to succeed his intentions and gather the remaining _Sunflowers_ here in Japan today."

"Oh~ that is wonderful to hear!"

At hearing the commentator's praise, Jirokichi smiled his trademark grin.

"We have heard that in order to host this huge project of the century, you're using an incredible museum that exceeds our imagination…"

"Yes, the exhibition will take place at Lake Rock Museum."

From behind her as she said this the monitor projected the words, "The Impregnable Lake Rock Museum!"

"It's a name we've not heard before isn't it?"

"That's because this museum was created especially for this exhibition." Said Jirokichi.

"In order to create the most suitable atmosphere to exhibit these masterpieces, in addition to making it compatible with a flawless security system, it was necessary to build this exhibit from scratch."

"Very well then, let us hear an explanation from Ms. Suzuki Sonoko accompanied with a preview video of this exhibit we've received in advance."

The announcer turned to the monitor. The screen displayed the expected outer appearance of the museum.

"This Lake Rock Museum is built within a reformed limestone cave that my company has taken possession of. It is a building that extends eight floors underground, with a viewing room on each floor. On each of these floors, one of the seven _Sunflowers_ paintings will be displayed separately for the guest to enjoy at their leisure."

In accord with her explanation, the monitor changed to show the cross section of the interior of the Lake Rock. It showed that from the entrance building on the surface, eight floors were lined up extending directly downwards. Connecting each floor was a single elevator shaft and a spiraling tube-like walkway. The route the viewers were to take was highlighted on the screen, following the tube.

 **[126-127]**

"Finally, as all our viewers gather on the eighth and final floor, the _Sunflowers_ paintings on each floor will be taken in a specialized automated elevator down to the eighth floor where our viewers will be able to view the entire collection of the _Sunflowers_ at once as they wait for the visitor elevator that will take them back up to the top."

"I see! So we wouldn't be able to view all the _Sunflowers_ together at first, but only after we have been able to appreciate each _Sunflowers_ individually, correct!?"

"And not just that! Our security is top-notch too!"

Jirokichi bragged, raising his folding-fan all importantly as Sonoko continued.

"If anything out of the ordinary occurs near the _Sunflowers_ , it will set off a sensor that will immediately put the paintings inside a water and fire-proof enforced case, so there is no need to fear any damage from flooding or a fire break-out. Moreover, even if the _Sunflowers_ happen to be stolen from within the building, our defense system will immediately seal off all entrances and exits. So if Kaitou KID somehow manages to disguise himself and sneak in, he will definitely not be able to escape."

"And our safety measures are fool-proof as well! No matter what may occur the elevator to the roof and the emergency security system will not stop functioning." Added Jirokichi.

"Are you saying that there is a self-generating power system involved?"

At the commentator's question, Sonoko nodded, "Yes."

"About that we have prepared another video for you to take a look at."

The monitor showed the water tank that was located on the surface of the museum. It zoomed in on the tank and projected an image of it being completely filled with water. From there it changed over to show the cross-section of the inner-Lake Rock as the water from the tank flowed out, filling into the turbine located at the lowermost part of the museum underground. The water caused the turbine to rotate, gradually lighting up each room of the museum.

"The tank takes water straight from the lake that is right in front of the museum. If the need be, it can fluctuate the water hydroelectric power. Because of this, we can safely send our visitors to the surface in addition to using the specialized rail to transport the _Sunflowers_ to an emergency safekeeping storehouse above ground."

On the layout that displayed the inner-Lake Rock, a _Sunflowers_ icon appeared, opening up another window that demonstrated the paintings being moved along the specialized railing. In a different window it showed a safe similar to the New Iron Tanuki and its remarkable door being opened up, allowing the _Sunflowers_ to be filed in there safely at the end of their railroad.

Then all the windows disappeared and the monitor once again displayed the seven _Sunflowers_ painting _._

"That is amazing! A truly perfect system!"

"An impregnable fortress to protect the _Sunflowers_!"

The commentator and announcer said in admiration. "Indeed!" Jirokichi agreed, standing up.

"In this ultimate environment, you can view some of humanity's greatest treasures, all seven of the _Sunflowers,_ at once. And the only place in the world that this is possible is the one and only 'Japan's Most Beloved _Sunflowers_ Exhibition'!"

Jirokichi let out his great laugh while fanning himself as the announcer sweat-dropped before looking at his documents.

 **[128-129]**

"Well, it seems that this exhibit is limited to only one-hundred viewers per day for the span of a month. From when will the raffle start for the tickets?"

"From now, actually!" declared Jirokichi.

"What!? Really!?"

"If you access our company's homepage at the moment, you will be able to apply!" Sonoko explained.

"The starting time is the same for all applicants around the world. So the chances of winning are astronomical!" Jirokichi warned.

Sonoko looked at the camera and gave a pose.

"Everyone! Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity ."

###

Immediately after watching the news, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta gathered at Professor Agasa's house and attempted to apply for tickets to "Japan's Most Beloved _Sunflowers_ " from his laptop on the table.

"Aww, a miss!"

On the screen showed the words "Too bad" with Jirokichi's face looking awfully disappointed. Ayumi dropped her head sadly.

"I thought we'd definitely get a ticket if we used the professor's house connection…." Said Mitsuhiko.

From his place next to Ayumi his shoulders dropped. Conan stared at him thinking, _what kind of logic is that?_

"Nobody won one, what's with that~" complained Genta.

"Is it even possible to get a hit?"

Ayumi and Genta stared at the "You Missed" screen in suspicion.

"Professor, if you get a hit, then what would this screen show?"

Mitsuhiko asked the professor who was watching on from beside them.

"Well, first after you register an official photograph, it will give you an ID and pin number. You then put those into the application page. After that the ticket will be delivered in a few working days."

"Wow professor, you really know your stuff..."

Just as Conan began to feel impressed, next to him Haibara let out knowing laugh. _No way_ thought Conan as it clicked and he looked back up at the professor.

"That's right, I got a hit! Gufufufufu."

"That's a creepy laugh."

Haibara chided, to which Professor Agasa cleared his throat.

"Please Professor! Let me have your ticket! I want to see the exhibit!" Mitsuhiko begged.

"Me too!" "Me too!" added Genta and Ayumi.

As the children begged, Agasa stroked his beard with a grin.

"Absolutely no way!"

"Now, now, don't be childish, Professor."

To Haibara's words, the others started as well. "Yeah, professor!" "Don't be childish!" As he was even being glared at by Conan, Agasa turned his back towards them. "This is troublesome…" Then, as though he just thought of a good idea he spun around."

 **[130-131]**

"Well, if you're that determined, let's decide this by a quiz! You'll have three choices to choose from, but I'll give you all together only one chance to answer, okay?"

The children's faces all lit up at once.

"Okay!" "Alright!" "As expected of the professor!"

"Now let's begin."

The professor puffed out his chest and put up his pointer finger.

"For the sunflower who lives in a sunflower field and loves the sun; what, then, does he hate? ① Spiders, ② Snakes, or ③ Scorpions?"

"In other words, _kumo, hebi, or sanri_ in Japanese."

Haibara translated for them. Immediately Conan lit up then gave a painful laugh.

"Well of course the answer would be –"

The professor immediately put a finger to his mouth and said "Shhh!"

"You two aren't allowed to answer!"

Just then the kids spoke up. "I got it!" "Me too!" "I do too!" they each said raising their hands.

"The answer is _sanri_ right!?"

Genta blurted out. "Wha~!" Ayumi whined at him.

"You're wrong Genta-kun!"

"Huh? Butscorpions have poison right?"

"There are poisonous spiders and snakes as well you know!"

"Seriously…..?"

The professor giggled, his shoulders shaking. "Bzzz!" he said.

"The answer was number one, spider."

"Why?"

Genta had a blank look on his face as Mitsuhiko and Ayumi began to explain.

"Because spider is _kumo_."

"And _kumo_ can also mean a cloud in the sky. Sunflowers love the sun so they would hate the cloud that got in the way of the sun."

"What's with _that_? It's got nothing at all to do with poison!"

"So as it seems I will _not_ be handing over my ticket to _anyone_."

As the professor said this, he began to giggle creepily once again.

###

"Which is why we all thought we'd like to go see the _Sunflowers_ together….would it be okay?"

 **[132-133]**

The children had all gone to visit Jirokichi's house and were gathered in the seminar room with Charlie and the other curators. Figuring they had nothing to lose, they decided to try asking Jirokichi himself for tickets.

"We're begging you." "Please!" "Pretty please!"

Conana, Haibara, and the other kids at the table looked at Jirokichi with puppy eyes. The man folded his arms and seemed to think it over.

"Very well."

"YES!"

"Huh?" Definitely thinking they'd be refused, Conan looked at him in surprise.

"Is it really okay?"

"However, I will be requiring you to cooperate with me even more from now on, kid."

Jirokichi laughed victoriously. From next to Conan, Haibara said cattily, "We'll be counting on you, Mr. Kid Killer."

"Do you all like the _Sunflowers_ that much?"

Kumiko, from where she sat across from them, asked the children, quite pleased.

"It's like, an awesome thing that they're all gathered together 'n all right?" said Genta.

"I'm gonna buy _lots_ of souvenirs!" said Ayumi.

The curators all kind of sweat-dropped at the children's reactions. Keiko asked another question.

"Everyone, what is it about the _Sunflowers_ in particular that you like?"

"Ummm, I don't really know, but they're supposed to be something really amazing right!?" said Genta.

"Genta, they're supposed to be amazing because they're painted by Vincent van Gogh," chided Mitsuhiko.

"Yeah, we like them _because_ they're done by Vincent van Gogh" agreed Ayumi.

"Ah, I see. It's not really the _Sunflowers_ in of themselves that you hold interest in." Keiko commented, slightly disappointed. Conan let out a sigh, looking a little sheepish at the children's behavior.

"You guys, we just managed to be able to go, but are you planning to ruin it all or something?"

The monitor in front of the table was showing all seven of the _Sunflowers._ Haibara looked at each one, comparing them.

"If you look closely, some of the paintings have his sign and some don't."

"Wonderful! You really noticed well!"

Natusmi readily praised Haibara. The other kids looked at the monitor as well.

"Really? Which ones?" "Where where?" "Ummmm…."

"Look veeery closely at the first, second, and fifth paintings."

"Ah! I see it!'

"On the vases right!?"

At Natsumi's hint, Ayumi and Mitsuhiko were able to notice "Vincent" signature on the vases.

 **[134-135]**

"Yes, and there's a theory that the three paintings with no signatures are fakes, you know."

At Natsumi's explanation, Kouji and Keiko had dubious expressions on their faces.

"Especially concerning the fifth _Sunflower_ that we got back from Kaitou KID. Despite the fact that it's been painted on the same canvas as the other four paintings, just because it doesn't have a signature, it has a history of being doubted as an original creation."

"Natsumi!" Keiko said angrily.

"To think that even you would say such things…"

"It's not good to teach the children things that are not proven."

As Kumiko gave Natsumi a criticizing look, Kouji added in.

"The reason why there is no signature is because Van Gogh had intended to give those paintings to people he knew personally right?"

"Yes that's right! It's generally accepted that he'd give them to Paul Gauguin, right!?"

In the midst of the curators who seemed to be on the edge of a fight, Conan looked at Haibara.

"It's true that if someone wanted to create a counterfeit, it'd be normal for them to go to lengths to mimic the signature as well."

"Yeah…."

The Genta spoke up reprovingly, "Hey, don't fight you all!"

"Either way doesn't matter to us!"

"We'll believe both sides, so don't fight!"

As Ayumi and Mitsuhiko said this, Natsumi quieted down. The other curators hurriedly put on smiles for the kids.

"We're not fighting, so don't worry."

"Sorry for troubling you…"

From behind them, Charlie looked at his wristwatch.

"Counselor Suzuki, It's almost time to start the meeting."

"Yes. Okay then."

Sonoko looked at the kids.

"Okay you guys, I'll see you home so let's go. Lupin, you come too."

Lupin, who had been sitting obediently next to Sonoko, barked happily.

"Uncle, don't forget Ran and Shinichi's tickets too okay."

Jirokichi nodded and called for Ishimine.

"Sorry, but can you go on ahead?"

"Yes sir. Once the time and routes for each vehicle is decided, please contact me."

Conan, who had been following the kids out of the room, stopped in his tracks after hearing their exchange.

"Hey, how are you taking the paintings to the museum? Even if Lake Rock's security is perfect, carrying them there would be pretty dangerous right?"

"Don't worry. We've prepared numerous dummy vehicles as well."

 **[136-137]**

"The only one who knows which vehicle is the real one is myself. "

Charlie assured from where he was standing by them. "I see," Conan said and gave him his kid smile, "Well, if it's Charlie then there's nothing to worry about." He then gave Charlie a serious glare.

"But if you're planning on using _that_ , then don't forget. In this world there is not a single life that it's simply okay to take away."

"I'll be sure to remember that."

Charlie had folded his arms to look at Conan coldly.

"However, if you are always pursuing the ideal then you are sure to be betrayed by reality. Just like with this Kaitou KID."

Conan clenched his teeth, galled at the man. But just then-

"Brat! What are you doing? We're leaving! Everyone is waiting for you~!"

Sonoko said returning to the room. "Okay!" Conan replied chirpily and ran out. For a brief moment Sonoko's eyes met Charlie's and she stuck her tongue out at him before slamming the door shut.

"…..it seems I am quite hated."

Charlie huffed and let out a small smile.

###

Genta puffed out his cheeks at Conan as he exited the seminar room.

"You're so slow, Conan!"

"My bad, my bad."

He and Genta rushed out after the other kids. From the other side of the hallway came some maids pushing a cart with plates and utensils on it. They stopped in from of the door to the seminar room.

"But it's a good thing we came."

Ayumi said and Genta nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah."

"We got to eat lots of cake and all."

"That's not what she meant Genta, she was talking about the tickets."

Mitsuhiko corrected. "Oh, you mean that," Genta said lightly.

"I bet the Professor is gonna be surprised that we're able to go too."

"Let's keep it a secret until the last second you guys!" said Genta.

"Yeah! Ai-chan you can't tell him either okay!" said Ayumi.

"Sure sure."

Haibara replied noncommittedly. Just then Lupin, who had been walking beside her, stopped suddenly. He sniffed around them before dashing back the way they came.

"Ah! Man not even the dog does what he's told around here."

Sonoko complained looking back at the dog. She then turned to glare at Conan.

"Brat, you better not go back either!"

 **[138-139]**

"Uh, yeah."

 _So your faith in me is the same as the dog huh…_

"Okay everyone, we gotta get going. So hurry up and start walking!"

"Yes ma'am" the kids chorused.

Lagging behind, Conan rushed to catch up with the others.

###

The bodyguard Gotou opened the door to let in the two maids pushing the tableware cart.

"Sir, there's also a box delivery and message for you…." They said.

"Ah, thank you."

Jirokichi took them from the maids, sticking the box under his arm and started with opening the envelope that came with it first.

"From who, I wonder. They sent it here instead of to the company after all…"

At that moment Lupin came rushing back into the seminar room from the hallway. He sniffed the floor, drawing nearer to Jirokichi. As he got closer he started to growl and bare his teeth.

"Be quiet, Lupin!"

Lupin immediately dropped his head and lowered his tail between his legs.

"Really, we spoil you too much."

Giving the dog a light glare, Jirokichi went back to opening the letter. His eye widened at finding the card inside.

"I-It couldn't be….KID!"

He flipped the card over to see the KID mark on the back.

"Please show me," requested Charlie.

Jirokichi handed the card over, and Charlie looked at its front and back.

"There's no mistake, it's Kid's. And what's that?"

"Some kind of present it seems…"

Jirokichi removed the box from under his arm and pulled the ribbon that was wrapped around it. At the action, Lupin once again bared his fangs. He leapt up and stole the box straight from Jirokichi's hands.

"Lupin what's wrong with you!?"

"Counsellor, stand back!" Charlie warned.

Lupin shook the box in his mouth furiously. A _shoosh_ sound was made as some kind of liquid leaked out from the box. Lupin shrunk back and growled.

"That's good enough Lupin! Come here!"

Suddenly the box burst into flames, causing the dog to panic and run away with his tail between his legs. Charlie pushed Jirokichi away staring intently at the box.

"Judging from the invisible smell and the sudden combustion… It's a kind of inflammable liquid! Everyone needs to leave the room!"

 **[140-141]**

Gotou opened the door and the maids left with a shriek. Jirokichi and the curators also left the room hurriedly.

Charlie covered his mouth with a handkerchief and reached for a large fruit platter that was on the table. He grabbed it and quickly put it on top of the burning box.

"Are you okay, Charlie!?"

"Yes, it's safe now."

"Contact Inspector Nakamori immediately!" ordered Jirokichi.

As Gotou reached for the telephone handset, Charlie addressed Jirokichi, "Are you sure about that?"

"This is a life-threatening case. If you report it to the police they will definitely make you put the exhibition on hold, if not cease it altogether."

Jirokichi grinded his teeth in frustration.

"It's just as Charlie-san says."

Gotou confirmed. "I understand," said Jirokichi before turning to the other curators.

"You all too don't speak about this incident to anyone else alright?"

"Uh, sure…." "Understood."

The curators all nodded. Lupin came up to Jirokichi and rubbed his leg.

"Oh! Great job Lupin! You did good discovering that! You saved my life!"

Jirokichi knelt down to pet his dog affectionately.

"Charlie-san, just in case we should block off this room."

Chalie nodded at Gotou's suggestion and left the room. But he stopped at the door to give another look back at the box that was still covered by the fruit platter.

"Kaitou KID….You have shown your true character at last….there will be no more mercy for you after this…."

His glasses glinted sharply in the light.

###

That night. The gates to Jirokichi's mansion opened. A truck that had been parked in the wide garden turned on its headlights and drove off. As it went away, delivery service staff were carrying a large wooden container used to store paintings onto a different truck that was parked. In the garden there were even more identical trucks on standby. At Ishimine's directions, the curators were watching over the wooden containers being carried onto the trucks.

"I wonder exactly how many dummy trucks he has prepared…"

Kumiko muttered to Keiko, who was still looking forward.

"More than that, what do you think about the incident that occurred today?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about KID's motives."

At Keiko's question, Kumiko dropped her gaze in deep thought.

 **[142]**

"Probably he thinks that if the 'Japan's Most Beloved _Sunflowers_ Exhibition' gets cancelled, then the second and fifth painting will be released from Lake Rock museum….then he'd get another chance to steal them."

"Just that?"

"Huh?" Kumiko looked surprised at Keiko's unexpected response.

"If that was the case, the why wouldn't he just wait a month until the exhibition was over? Why is Kaitou KID in such a rush I wonder…"

Keiko said this and furrowed her brows in thought as she continued watching the trucks.

###

As the trucks were leaving one after another from Jirokichi's base, Gotou was found standing in the hallway of the guest rooms where the curators were staying. He glanced around to confirm that nobody was in the area before trotting over to a certain room. He pulled out a card key and slid it through the lock and opened the door.

He entered the room without turning on any lights and made his way over to a laptop sitting on the desk. He inserted a USB memory stick and typed on the keyboard before pressing the enter key.

On the computer screen the words "Analysis Complete" appeared. New window after new window began to open on their own. All of them featured pictures of Lake Rock Museum's security system. Among them included a layout of the interior of the museum, the second and fifth _Sunflower_ , and pictures of a molecular formula and chemical bottles.

With an unreadable expression, Gotou looked at the windows and operated the mouse. In the very center of the screen the words "COPY" appeared and a progress bar slowly began to fill its way up.

* * *

Hmmmm, Gotous actions are suspicious! Any thoughts on his motives?

And btw it is at this point that the viewers become 100 percent on the identity of _a_ criminal because though it's not mentioned in the book, the design on the laptop is the exact same one we've seen before in the possession of _someone_ whom I won't spoil for you.

Ahhh, I love how they go through all this trouble to build up such a remarkable, impregnable museum, only to witness the creative ways in which it _does_ get utterly destroyed. Kinda like the Titanic.

 **Side** **note** : I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the mini-fight the seven samurai had about the Van Gogh's signatures was not included in the movie. It's been a while since I've seen it but it feels like there are other places here and there that were cut out…

Review! And share you're introspections! One more chapter to go! I'm about halfway through it soooooo loooooong -_-;;; or I'm just lazy lol.


	9. Chapter 9, 1st half

Last real chapter! Well, half of it lol. One of my lovely reviewers Fansqueal notified me that the movie should be available to watch around October 15th. So please watch and enjoy!

 **Translation Notes:** I look forward to seeing how the fansubs translated 「日本に憧れたひまわり展」As technically it means the "Exhibit of the Sunflowers which are admired in Japan" or "Japan's Admired Sunflowers" or Adored Sunflowers or…something ;; I went with Beloved because it gave off the feeling of admiration and adoration without being too weird…..Hmm, maybe the "Adored Sunflowers of Japan?" But that sounds like the Sunflowers came from Japan…which they didn't. It's just that some Japanese aristocrat was a fan of Van Gogh and managed to get one of his paintings, which was a huge deal for Japan historically as it was becoming more international and competing with world powers and whatnot. Well, if anyone has any ideas, lemme know!

 **Random Notes:** Wanted to have this finished by now, but I ended having a job interview this week and had to write a new resume and whatnot. And let me tell you that Japanese resumes are a pain in the arse. They have to be handwritten in non-erasable pen with no mistakes at all and whether or not you get a job is highly influenced by how nice your handwriting it. I busted my butt to make it and was highly complimented on how pretty it was. So yeah, thanks to writing nicely I got another job lol. One of the interviewers were saying that people who have nice handwriting are often admired in Japan and wondered if it was the same elsewhere. That's not the case in America (we like things typed) but I was wondering about other countries? I know frequenters come from many different places, so if you have any thoughts on the topic let me know! Im curious now ^^

* * *

 **9**

 **[143]**

On top of a cliff overlooking the lake, one could see a cone-shaped building. That was the entrance to Lake Rock Museum. The building extended from the surface of the cliff descending into the limestone cave, giving off the air of a strong fortress. A part of the building even stuck out over the cliff.

Helicopters flew about in the air above the terrain where the opening ceremony was taking place. On the ceremony grounds were the hundred guests for the day who managed to overcome the astronomical odds of winning a ticket to enter the museum. Sonoko stood on a stage with Jirokichi and the other curators. She took a step forward to the mic placed in the center of the stage.

"Everyone, thank you for attending this day which marks the opening of 'Japan's Most Beloved _Sunflowers_ Exhibition. _'_ Now, let us hear from the initial proposer of the exhibit, Suzuki Jirokichi, as he delivers the opening declaration!"

Sonoko lead the applause and stepped back to allow Jirokichi to come forward. "Well then…" he started, bringing his face closer to the mic.

"You all, who have been drawn here -spellbound by the faint fragrance of the _Sunflowers_ , are you ready!?"

The attendees gave forth a great cheer all at once with a round of applause in the midst of flickering press cameras.

 **[144-145]**

"Very well! Let the opening of 'Japan's Most Beloved _Sunflowers_ Exhibition' begin~~~!"

With his words, magnificent fireworks were shot into the sky.

###

As the opening ceremony came to a close, the visitors to the museum began to line up at the entrance. Conan and the kids were there with Ran, who was speaking with a member of the staff.

"Excuse me, we're here on special invitation so…"

"Okay, please show me your tickets."

"There're six people total."

Ran presented the tickets to the staff lady. "Please enter from over here" she guided them to a belted off area and opened it for them. The kids immediately ran through.

"We're the first ones through!" "Awesome~!" "Ran-oneesan, hurry hurry~!"

Ran and Conan, followed by Haibara came up to the children who had trotted ahead of them to wait in front of the automated ticket gate.

"Are you all together?" Another staff member asked.

"Yes," answered Ran.

"Very well then would the leader of the group please insert the tickets into the wicket."

Ran put all the tickets together into the gate…the machine made a jangling sound as it sucked each ticket inside.

###

Each ticket that was entered into the automated machines had a picture of their owner's face and name show up on a large monitor screen in the security room of the museum.

"Huh!? Why are those brats here!?"

Korogo, who was surveilling the monitor with Nakamori, had his eyes go wide upon seeing Ran and Conan and the others.

"You mean you're not the one who brought them here with you?" inquired Nakamori.

"Er, no…"

"It was me."

Surprised, the two men turned to see Jirokichi enter the room from the double doors with Charlie and the five curators.

"I invited them," Jirokichi repeated.

"Well, if _you're_ fine with it then I guess there's no problem, but still…"

"More importantly, is everything proceeding smoothly with the admissions?"

Jirokichi asked. Gotou, who had been sitting in front of the monitor, turned around in his chair, "Yes."

"The surrounding area is clear and both security systems are running perfectly."

"I see, then will everyone except for Gotou please return to your designated area?"

"Yes, sir!"

Three men who were dressed in black responded promptly before heading together out the door. Kogoro knitted his brows at seeing only Gotou of the security team left in the room.

 **[146-147]**

"Hey now," stated Kogoro, "is he gonna be okay overseeing this by himself?"

"Don't worry about it, the system has an automate function installed. And it's better to limit the number of people who can enter and leave this room to just a select few."

"Well, that's true…"

Kogoro turned back to the screen. "Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"What's wrong?" asked Nakamori.

"Uh, never mind…."

"You're sure a noisy fellow aren't you?" commented Jirokichi.

Ignoring the peeved Nakamori and Jirokichi, Kogoro turned once again to the monitor and sighed.

 _You've got to be kidding me,_ that _guy came here too?_ he thought silently.

The screen showed Shinichi walking through one of the X-ray security machines. Nobody other than Kogoro seemed to have noticed his presence.

"Gouto! Have there been any persons displaying suspicious behavior?"

"The first group of people have entered the exhibit room of the first _Sunflowers_ , however, it seems that there is a single person who has headed straight for the second _Sunflowers_. I'll bring the footage up on the monitor."

Gotou operated the panel, bringing up the display of the interior of the second _Sunflowers_ exhibit layout and opened a new window. From the surveillance camera it showed the form of an elderly woman standing in front of the second _Sunflower._

"What's this? It's just an old lady."

"That's strange of her to start viewing the _Sunflowers_ from the _second_ painting…"

"Can you close up a bit more on her?"

Gotou continued to stare at the screen, however, as though he didn't hear Jirokichi.

"Gotou!"

"Y-Yessir!"

Gotou came back to himself and operated the panel. The screen flickered a bit before featuring footage of the lady from a surveillance camera that was shooting from a below-diagonal position. On the screen showed the same elderly lady who had been always staring at the _Sunflowers_ from Sompo Japan Nipponkua Art Museum.

"Huh? Is she crying!?"

Nakamori's eyes widened at seeing the close-up of the woman. Tears were forming in her eyes as she stared intently at the second _Sunflowers._

"She must have really wanted to see the second _Sunflowers…_ "

Kogoro commentated, to which Jirokichi nodded.

"It means that this exhibit was well worth it. Even if she ended up being the only person who came here, it was worth it."

 **[148-149]**

"Counselor," Charlie called from where he stood next to the man.

"This is clearly not KID, let's return to the general screen view."

"Ahh, yes that's right. Gotou, please resume."

"Yes."

Gotou dropped his gaze to the panel, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. On his cheeks, something sparkled and slid down his chin.

###

Conan and the others had finished looking at the first _Sunflowers_ and were now walking down the tube towards the second one. The children stopped in front of the decorative sunflowers that lined the edge of the tube.

"Wow! They're so beautiful!" Ayumi exclaimed.

"But they seem to be fake."

Mistuhiko narrowed his eyes at the flowers. "Well, naturally," Conan interceded. "If they were real then they'd be wilting."

"It doesn't matter if they're real or not, but I wish they gave off a better smell."

Genta commented bringing his face close to the flowers. Sonoko folded her arms, "That's strange…"

"The sunflowers were Natsumi-san's idea, but she didn't suggest anything about adding any fragrance to them….Oh well, this smell isn't all that bad either. More importantly, let's go view the second _Sunflowers_ that officially belongs to the Suzuki plutocracy."

"Alright!" "Let's go!"

The children proceeded ahead with Ran, but Conan stayed behind by himself. He brought his face closer to give them a sniff himself. However he ended up spotting the miniature surveillance camera that was attached to the stem. Looking around at the other sunflowers he saw that there were many more placed in areas that wouldn't stand out.

 _Surveillance cameras huh….They seem to be set up all throughout here…._

"Conan-kun, what are you doing? Let's go!"

Ran called back to him. "Oka-ay!" Conan replied obediently before trotting after her.

###

There was a small group of people standing in front of the second _Sunflower_ , staring intently at the painting.

Unlike the other _Sunflowers,_ this painting had a deep blue background with five bright sunflowers clearly outlined in orange. This vivid contrast really brought out the life force of the sunflowers.

Shinichi was among the visitors who were viewing this painting.

"Hey! I can see it!"

Sonoko called out from the tube hallway. The children immediately dashed forwards. Shinichi quickly made his distance from the _Sunflowers_ and headed towards the tube that lead to the next exhibit. He nondescriptly took a white card from his pants pocket, letting it glide to the floor.

 **[150-151]**

Sonoko, who was entering the exhibit from the tube hallway, managed to catch a glimpse of Shinichi's retreating figure.

"Ran! Hurry over here! I saw Shinichi!"

She gestured to Ran, who had been walking at a slower pace with Conan and Haibara, before trying to follow after Shinich. Conan dashed forward with Ran a little behind him.

They stopped in front of Sonoko's disheartened face.

"Sonoko, where's Shinichi!?"

Ran aske, but just then "Please keep your voice down," a man dressed in black scolded from where he was standing near them.

"Sorry."

"We're sorry."

The man noticed the apologizer was Sonoko and said, "O-oh, my lady. Excuse me." Before making his retreat.

"Where's Shinichi?"

"Sorry, I lost him."

"Was he really here?"

Conan asked. Sonoko put a hand to her chin in thought.

"Now that you mention it…It's not like I got a good look at him…."

"Maybe you mistook someone else for him?"

Ran said, but Conan knitted his eyebrows in though.

 _It'd be nice if that was the case, but thinking back on the kind of security they have to get in here…all belongings were thoroughly checked and considering there were X-ray scanners there was no possibility of someone being able to enter with a disguise. Which would mean that for KID, the only option left would be to disguise himself as me, whom he naturally looks similar to…."_

At that moment Conan raised his head and noticed the card-like thing on the floor. He ran over to it, picking it up.

 _Hm? What is this note…_.?

On the card was some kind of math formula written. He turned it over to see a KID mark-!

 _As I thought, that guy's here disguised as me…!_

"Is everything okay?"

Haibara asked him. He showed her the card then ran over to Ran.

"Ran-neechan! Sonoko-neechan!"

"Conan-kun, be quieter."

"Take me to the security room! I found a KID card!"

He held it up for them to see. The girl's expressions changed drastically.

"Kaitou KID is already inside Lake Rock…!"

 **[152-153]**

Jirokichi, Charlie, Nakamori, and Kogoro surrounded the desk in the security room which the KID card that Conan had picked up was placed. The rest of the curators were standing behind Jirokichi.

"Unfortunately we couldn't discern who dropped the card through the surveillance cameras…"

Jirokichi lamented as Kogoro narrowed in on the formula that was written on the card.

14 = (11人+1人) + 2人

15 = (11人+1人) +2人 +1人

*人= person/people*

"Well, if we want to force an association of this formula with the _Sunflowers_ , there _are_ paintings that Vincent Van Gogh did that have 15 sunflowers on them…"

Charlie stated, to which Kumiko gave a light nod.

"The 4th, 5th, and 6th all have 15 sunflowers…"

"So then, is there one with 14 flowers?"

"There shouldn't be any."

"There _is_ a theory that having 14 flowers is the same as having 15 for Van Gogh's _Sunflowers._ "

"14 flowers being the same as 15?"

Jirokichi turned around. "Yes," Natsumi nodded.

"In one of his letters to his brother, Theo, he wrote that a painting which had 15 flowers actually had 14 flowers." She explained.

"What, could the guy not count the number of flowers he drew himself in his own painting!?"

Charlie questioned. Natsumi shrugged.

"Maybe, but the truth remains a mystery…"

Charlie turned back to look at the formula in deep thought.

"So if this has something to do with the number of sunflowers in the paintings….what do these numbers after it mean?"

Kouji opened his mouth.

"The theory goes that in the case that Van Gogh recognized there were 14 sunflowers, he was equating each flower to Christ's 12 disciples plus Theo and Gauguin."

"That's right! That must be it!"

Natsumi agreed enthusiastically. "Which is supposed to mean what, exactly?" Jirokichi asked.

"Show me the card one more time please. '11 people + 1' refers to Christ's 12 disciples. The '+2 people' would be Theo and Gauguin. Altogether they make 14 people. And then for the formula with 15 people, the final '+1' would be Van Gogh himself."

"I see…" said Kogoro, folding his arms. Nakamori lifted up his head.

 **[154-155]**

"So why are Christ's 12 disciples suddenly brought in to this equation again?" he asked.

"Because Van Gogh was born in a pastor's house," said Natsumi.

"Which is why he may have selected the 12 disciples," explained Kouji.

Charlie's thoughtful expression did not change even after hearing Natsumi and Kouji's explanation.

"Even if your interpretation is correct….the problem is what is for what purpose is this formula written?" Charlie wondered.

Sonoko cocked her head from where she stood next to the desk.

"I wonder why KID-sama wrote such a difficult to understand notice…" she pondered.

"Never mind that, could this even be called a notice…?" commented Ran

Conan listened to Ran and Sonoko's exchange. It was true they may have been jumping to conclusions assuming it was a theft notice….

 _If the formula is referring to the_ Sunflowers _, then why is it that the 12 disciples have gotten all mixed up in there? If we can understand his intention behind that, then I have a feeling we'd be able to understand what KID is really trying to tell us…._

Conan was lost in his thoughts when Jirokichi finally stood up, "Oh well!"

"We'll know exactly what KID was trying to tell us once we capture the man himself and ask him directly – Inspector Nakamori! It's clear that KID has snuck his way into the building. Take action please."

"Ah, yes."

"Gotou! Have all our visitors and staff exit the premise!"

"Yes!"

Gotou turned and nodded before facing back to the monitors and started to operate them. Kogoro glanced at his watch, "Oi oi" he started.

"An hour hasn't even passed since you opened the place. If you close it already you might cause an uprising you know."

"Don't worry about it. One never knows how things will turn out the first day, so the only people who are here today are by invitation, like company staff and Sonoko's personally invited friends and whatnot."

Jirokichi grinned. Kumiko then called out to him, "Counsellor."

"We will go stand at our assigned posts as planned," she informed.

"Good, I'm counting on you all, seven samurai."

Jirokichi said and looked at Kogoro.

"That's right, there _were_ emergency procedures in place after all." Kogoro said.

Kogoro and Charlie stood up, forming a circle with the rest of the seven samurai.

"Okay then, just as planned if you need to leave your post, contact us first."

Kumiko instructed and everyone immediately place a wireless-communicator to their ears and left the security room.

###

" _The emergency situation alarm device has been activated. Everyone please follow the instructions of the nearest security guard and calmly leave the premise_. _We repeat:…_ "

 **[156-157]**

As the broadcast was being played inside the museum, security guards dressed in black clothing began to guide the visitors to the elevator.

"Everyone, there has been a disturbance in the area. We apologize, but please calmly make your way to the elevator."

The children who were resting on a bench in the second _Sunflowers_ exhibition room looked about them.

"I bet KID showed up!"

"It's time for the Boy's Detective Group to do their stuff!"

Haibara rained in on their little parade quickly, "No," she said.

"KID has been too dangerous recently. You absolutely must not leave my side you hear!"

"Yes ma~am"

The three replied and dropped their shoulders in disappointment.

###

"You don't need to send them through the X ray scanners. Return to them their belongings and have the guests leave the museum area," instructed Jirokichi.

"Hey! If you do that then KID will be able to run away!"

Nakamori said turning to Jirokichi. "Don't worry about it," assured the older man.

"You know as well as I do that he's not the type of guy to make a run for it with his object of desire right in front of his eyes."

"…..Yeah, knowing him he'll remain inside the museum."

"Exactly. We'll seal off the exits and that guy will be trapped."

Jirokichi said, clenching his fist.

"The fact that he's entered Lake Rock means that KID is not in disguise and he doesn't have any of his magic tricks at his disposal. With KID the way he is now, we'll definitely get'im! My own trusted twelve will remain inside the building as well."

The 12 people Jirokchi was referring to were the five curators, Charlie, Kogoro, Nakamori, Gotou, Ran, Sonoko, and Conan.

 _Trusted twelve people huh…_

Conan suddenly recalled the painting of _The Last Supper_ that was hanging up in the hotel room.

 _So_ that's _it. Instead of writing '12 people' to refer to the disciples, KID wrote '11 people + 1' which would probably mean that he's singling out…Judas…._

 **[158-159]**

Conan's face lit up and he looked up at Jirokichi, "Jirokichi-ojisan!"

"When you said your trusted twelve, that's the same number as the 12 disciples that was written on KID's card, right?"

"Your point, kid?"

"I've been wondering why KID didn't just write '12人' this whole time…could it be that there was only one person who was different from the rest?"

At Conan's 'innocent' statement, Ran's face lit up in understanding.

"That would be…Judas wouldn't it?"

"Judas the Betrayer?"

Sonoko clarified. Jirokichi and Nakamori turned to them abruptly.

"So KID-sama was trying tell us that there is a traitor in our group…" said Sonoko.

"You mean there is someone other than KID who is after the _Sunflowers!?"_

"Yeah!" Sonoko nodded. Nakamori put a hand to his chin in thought.

"Well certainly this has been the kind of criminal behavior you wouldn't normally attribute to KID….Consult Suzuki, I think we may need to once again take a look over the profiles of the Seven Samurai, but…"

"That guy may just be trying to cast doubt on our trust in each other and throw our security measures into confusion."

"So don't tell them the curators we're re-looking into them."

"True, then there's nothing to lose by doing a little more research."

"Very well then, let's start with those who may have some sort of connection with the recently targeted second and fifth _Sunflowers._ "

Nakamori picked up a nearby phone. The large monitor screen showed pictures of the emptied exhibition rooms and the tube hallway. A new window appeared that featured a man wearing black and holding a phone.

" _This is front gate security speaking. The visitors and staff have all finished exiting the premises."_

"Good, start blocking off the exits immediately."

"Got it, block off commencing"

Gotou operated the panel. Reinforced walls slowly began to close in from the sides in front of the automated security gates, sealing off all escape routes.

###

The security guards dressed in black ran forward towards the main entrance where the fortified walls were closing in. They stopped in front of the large number of visitors who were standing outside.

"Everyone please step back!" "Get back!"

The men in black made their way outside as even more fortified walls began to close.

The media that were broadcasting from the outside took in the view of the mass of visitors and staff leaving the museum. A reporter holding a microphone stood in front of the camera.

"We see a continued stream of visitors and employees leaving the Lake Rock Museum. What in the world has occurred inside?

 **[160-161]**

The guests who were in the building said that they haven't heard anything either."

The TV staff moved the camera around, catching footage of Haibara and the children walking away. Next to them one could see the figure of an elderly lady walking away as well.

###

Charlie had exited the security room and began exploring the areas that looked as though they could be missed by the surveillance cameras. However, no matter where he went, he couldn't find any sign of KID. He put his gun away into its holster as he finished searching the restrooms, sparing a glance to the cameras on the ceiling.

The only other place there weren't any cameras were the server room and the power station. However, only a very limited number of people knew about those places.

 _Let's give it a try shall we?_ –Charlie thought, pressing the switch on the communicator device in his ear.

"This is Charlie. I've checked all the surveillance camera blind spots. I haven't found KID yet on the premise."

" _Roger that"_

Gotou answered from the other end. Charlie broke out into a trot, passing through and taking a left at a roped off section that was labeled _No Trespassing_.

###

" _Nobody is left within the building. Everyone please return to your stations."_

Concealing himself by lining his back to the giant switchboard that was in the electric control room of the power station was Shinichi, listening to Gotou and the other's conversations through the wireless communication device in his ear.

"It seems to be about time, huh."

He checked his watch -and just then there came electrical beeping noises from the door. Shinichi discreetly glanced around the corner from where he was hiding behind the switchboard. The person he saw enter was Charlie.

Charlie had drawn his gun from its holster and was checking left and right before proceeding forward slowly. Kata-kata! He suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps! He rushed forward to see Shinichi on the other end of the room running away from him. He aimed his gun, but the boy quickly turned the corner, away from his sight.

"Dammit! Wait right there KID!"

Just as Charlie himself rounded the corner, the door once again began to beep….and opened.

###

A black shadow entered the control room, checking left and right…before lifting up its cheek cockily and walking forward. It approached the same switchboard where Shinichi had been previously hiding and opened one of its cabinet doors. Inside the case were numerous cords and circuits clunked together. The shadowed person took off the lid to the glass bottle it was holding and poured some sort of liquid into the cabinet.

The electric circuit began to spark, leading to a small explosion that set the switchboard on fire. The black shadow made to leave the power control room. At that same moment all the lights in the building shut off.

 **[162-163]**

"Kyaaa!" Sonoko let out a scream, surprised when all the lights abruptly went off.

"A blackout!?"

The room had become pitch dark, only dimly lit by the small monitor in front of Gotou.

"It'll be alright. Immediately activate the emergency power system!" Jirokichi ordered.

"Yes!"

Conan ran up to Gotou's side, "Prioritize the _Sunflowers'_ monitors!" he told him.

"I got it."

Gotou operated the panel in front of him. A countdown for the emergency power supply appeared. "The screen's coming up!" he announced.

With the restoration of the monitor, the screens featuring each of the _Sunflowers_ appeared.

"Good news, the _Sunflowers_ are fine!"

Nakamori confirmed before turning around to nod at Jirokichi, "Yes!"

"Change the picture to this monitor over here, Megure has some information for us."

"Okay."

The next moment the lights turned back on in the security room. Though it was just minimal light, Ran and Sonoko both let out a sigh of relief.

"Gotou! What in the world happened!?"

"It seems there was some trouble in the power control room. The lights, main elevator, and surveillance cameras have all stopped functioning. We'll keep an eye out on the second and fifth _Sunflowers._ "

Gotou went back to operating the panel. A thoughtful look came over Jirokichi's face as he stared fixedly at the big monitor.

"That KID….As we thought he stayed behind inside the building."

"Actually, this may not be the work of KID after all….!"

"What!?" Jirokichi looked in surprise at Nakamori.

"What do you mean?"

"We took another look into the seven samurai and found a suspicious person.

"Huh?" "No way!" exclaimed Ran and Sonoko.

"This person's older twin brother apparently died in Arles, France, where Van Gogh had painted the seven _Sunflowers._ "

Through the communicators, Nakamori's voice also reached the seven samurai. At once Charlie, Kogoro, and the five curators who were spread out through the building put their hands to the devices in their ears in anticipation.

"According to the local police, the man had a bullet wound in his chest and gun powder on his right hand. In other words, it was determined to be a suicide.'

"So then, that person…."

Nakamori had a dark look on his face as Jirokichi leaned forward.

"….That person's name was Azuma Kouichi."

 **[164-165]**

"Azuma you say!?"

"Yes, the man in charge of the restoration of the paintings, Azuma Kouji's older brother."

" _It wasn't suicide. I'm the one who killed Kouichi_."

Kouji's voice suddenly came through the wireless communicators. Everyone lifted their heads at his proclamation. "Everyone look!" Ran shouted, pointing at the monitor.

"Look at the monitor! The monitor of the second _Sunflower_!"

The monitor depicted Kouji standing in front of the second _Sunflower,_ facing the camera.

"Why? Why did you kill your own brother?"

Nakamori leaned forward toward the monitor. Kouji continued to stare straight forward at the camera and opened his mouth.

" _Kouichi-niichan had always been looking for_ Ashiya's Sunflowers, _but upon finding it he had a change of heart."_

"Wait, you say you _found_ _Ashiya's_ _Sunflowers….?"_

Conan looked surprised at Kouji's words. Jirokichi squared his shoulders, taking a few steps towards the monitor.

"What are you talking about!? That _Sunflower_ was destroyed in the fires during the war wasn't it?"

" _No….That is not the truth._ "

Kouji shook his head lightly.

" _That day….August 6_ _th_ _, 1945- there were air raids in the town of Ashiya, turning the city into a hellish inferno. The merchant family that had purchased the Ashiya's_ Sunflowers _had hired my grandfather to work for them as a carpenter. To prevent theft, the_ Sunflowers _painting_ _had been fixed into the wall. So when the building began to burn my grandfather rushed into the building by himself to retrieve it."_

###

 _In the skies above Ashiya appeared the large-sized American bomber planes, the B-29, that began to drop shell bomb after shell bomb. In no time at all the town of Ashiya was encompassed in flames._

 _As fires began to erupt here and there around the mansion that housed the_ Sunflowers _, the family members, live-in students, and helpers all rushed outside to save their lives. Of the lot, there was a single person who ran in the opposite direction as they, jumping into the raging fires. That man was the carpenter Azuma Kiyosuke._

 _He ran through the smoke encumbered halls, kicking down the door to the reception room and only shrink back as a piece of the ceiling came tumbling down. He spotted the_ Sunflowers _through the fires on the other side of the room and dashed towards it. Again a part of the ceiling – a larger part this time- came falling down, bringing the chandelier with it. Kiyosuke stepped around the pieces of the chandelier and continue toward his destination. He took a bar from his tool bag that he'd brought with him and began to desperately hack away at the wall surrounding the_ Sunflowers _painting. He then slipped the bar into an opening that had form by the frame and pushed with all his might._

" _Azuma-san!"_

 _Just as the_ Sunflowers _came free from the wall, a woman's voice called out from behind him. He turned around in surprise to see the daughter of the businessman, Umeno, and a worker of the household standing there._

 _ **[167-167]**_

" _Azuma-san, what are you doing?"_

" _Don't come any closer!"_

 _Surprised, the worker stopped in his tracks as Kiyosuke took the painting he'd freed from the wall and threw it towards him. Still in the midst of his surprise the worker managed to catch it. Standing next to him, Umeno sucked in her breath._

 _Kiyosuke was kneeling down in the middle of the flames and debris. Stalks of wood had pierced both of his legs and a large amount of blood was flowing from the wounds._

" _My Lady! I leave the_ Sunflowers _to you!"_

" _No! Azuma-san! Azu-"_

 _Crying out, Umeno tried to dash forward, only to be pulled back by the worker. "Look out!" he cautioned. Just that moment more debris from the roof crashed down into the space between Kiyosuke and Umeno._

" _My Lady! Hurry up and get away from here!"_

" _No!" She screamed, trying to shake herself free of the worker's arm._

" _Azuma-sa-n!"_

 _Still kneeling in front of the wall, blood was running down Kiyosuke's head as he let out a cough._

" _Even if we lose this war…..we can't let that painting be taken away…."_

" _Azuma-san! Azuma-sa-"_

" _My lady, we need to hurry!"_

 _The worker had wrapped the_ Sunflowers _in his jacket and was holding it. Umeno had fallen to her knees, reaching out a hand toward Kiyosuke who sat on the other side of the smoke and flames. Kiyosuke let out a small smile, reaching out his right hand as well._

" _This time for sure in Japan….a museum such as the one that Mushiyano Kouji-sensei spoke of…..for people of all the world to see…that_ Sunflowers….."

 _The worker came back to grab Umeno, carrying her out into the hallway just as the flames burst higher in the reception room, swallowing the figure of Kiyosuke….._

 _###_

"This is the story that my father had always told us kids…."

Kouji had a faraway look in his eyes as he finish telling the story of his grandfather.

"It wasn't long before my brother became an art dealer and I myself a restoration professional. After my father's death we continued to search for _Ashiya's Sunflowers,_ relying only on the words of the worker who had recieved the painting from our grandfather at that time…"

"The words of the worker?"

Conan asked, to which Kouji nodded wordlessly.

"He said that in order to keep it from being confiscated by the GHQ (the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers), the painting was passed off as a counterfeit and secretly sent to Europe."

Jirokichi's eyes widened as he stared at the monitor, "Th-that can't be!?"

"So the _Sunflowers_ I purchased at the auction….that was _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ …!"

 **[168-169]**

Ran and Sonoko looked at each other in surprise.

So _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ wasn't destroyed in the fire after all.

"Yes. My brother and I discovered the painting tucked away in the attic of an old cottage in Arles….however, after many long years of searching and having finally found it, my brother had a sudden change of heart…"

Facing forward, Kouji lowered his head a bit and closed his eyes forcefully.

"He said that the _Sunflowers_ must stay in the land of Arles that Van Gogh loved so much, otherwise he'd destroy it. That my brother would say such things that betrayed the wishes of our father and grandfather….I couldn't forgive him….."

Azuma clenched his fist to his side.

###

 _Summer, half a year before. Kouji and Kouichi were driving through a small path in a field of sunflowers. The Ashiya's Sunflowers that they had discovered in the attic of an old cottage was placed in the back seat of the car. Kouichi was sitting in the driver's seat, continuing his assertion that the painting should stay in the town of Arles._

" _It was our father's wish for the painting to be returned to Japan. Think of our grandfather who even gave his life to protect it-" Kouji shouted._

" _Japan is the country that allowed this painting, a treasure to all of mankind, to be burned in the flames of war!" Kouichi rebutted._

" _It's not like Japan itself burned the Sunflowers…."_

 _Kouji, sitting in the passenger seat, stopped talking. Kouichi had turned around to point a handgun towards the painting._

" _Van Gogh loved this_ Sunflowers _. Rather than have it be taken from the land of Arles-"_

" _Brother stop!"_

 _Kouji reached forward to grab ahold of the gun in his brother's hands._

" _Rather than have it returned to the country that had it so detestably treated, it'd be much better off being torn to pieces in Arles-"_

" _Please stop this! STOP"_

 _In the instant he managed to take the gun from his brother, it went off. Surprised, Kouichi looked down to see his chest being died in red…_

" _Brother…I-I…."_

 _Kouji turned pale as his brother started to gasp for breath. Kouichi grasped at his chest as the blood spread forth._

"… _.run…."_

" _Wha-!?"_

 _Kouichi opened the door, staggering outside. One hand holding onto the gun and the other onto his bonnet, he walked forward, making his way into the field of sunflowers._

 _ **[170-171]**_

" _Brother!"_

 _Kouji hurriedly stepped outside of the car._

" _You…run away…."_

" _But-"_

" _Go!"_

 _Kouichi waved his hand at him as if brushing away a moth. Under the bright sun Kouichi staggered forward, drops of red splattering on the yellow sunflowers._

 _Kouji clenched his teeth and shook his head. He closed the door to the passenger side and ran around to get into the driver's seat, pressing his foot on the acceleration pedal. The car sped off as Kouichi collapsed into the field of sunflowers. He then pointed his gun toward the sun in the sky._

 _Within the sunflower field rang the sound of a single shot, sending a flock of crows all at once into flight….._

###

A black-shadowed figure stood in the tube hallway in front of the proudly blooming sunflowers, listening to Kouji's story through the wireless communicator in its ear. An evil grin raised its cheeks as it tilted the bottle it was holding, pouring some kind of liquid onto the sunflowers. In the span of mere seconds flames began to erupt vigorously.

###

Kouji opened his eyes, looking straight back into the surveillance camera again.

"… _..It was after that I learned about '_ Japan's Most Beloved Sunflowers Exhibition' _and decided to participate as a curator. Thanks to you I have been able to witness the Ashiya's Sunflowers' return to Japan. The wish from my grandfather's era has finally been granted. That's why, after this exhibition was finished I intended to turn myself in. It's a bit early, but I don't mind turning myself in now."_

"Understood. Megure of the Metropolitan Police Department is on his way here. You'll come peacefully won't you?"

Kouji gave a small nod at Nakamori, " _Yes_ , _of_ _course_."

" _However, I'm not the suspicious person you guys have been talking about."_

 _-!?_

Conan's eyes widened dramatically as Nakamori leaned forward.

"What are you trying to get at all of a sudden-"

" _Oi! The sunflowers are burning_!"

Kouji cried out, looking at something beyond the line of vision of the camera.

"Don't try to evade the question-!"

" _No, they're really burning!"_

Came Kumiko and Natsumi's voices from the communicators.

" _This is bad, there's a fire!"_

 **[172-173]**

" _Hurry and put it out!"_

On the monitor that featured the fourth underground floor level, flames could be seen. On the other floors flames began to make themselves visible as well.

"Hey! What's going on here!?" cried Nakamori.

"Gotou, what do the _Sunflowers_ heat sensors say?" asked Jirokichi.

From the monitor that showed a layout of the building, cautionary words against the rooms' rising temperature levels began to appear. Also, there was a notification that the emergency escape shooters were on standby and ready to be used.

"They're reading signs of unusual temperature levels. It seems that there really is a fire breakout."

"Can it be extinguished?"

"It's impossible. The disaster prevention system is down due to the power outage."

At Gotou's report, Jirokichi clenched his teeth in anguish.

"It can't be helped. Everyone, we need to get to the roof! We must evacuate! Gotou, open up the surface doors and I'll get the elevator ready."

"Yessir."

"Let's go, everyone follow me!" ordered Jirokichi.

Nakamori, Ran, and Sonoko ran after Jirokichi.

"Conan-kun, let's go!" ushered Ran.

"Ok."

Almost as soon as Conan left the security room, he pulled back at seeing the fire closing in. Already the smoke was filling up the room. Gotou was standing up, still typing furiously on the keyboard.

"Oji-san hurry up! The fire has already reached here!" he shouted to the man.

"I understand, I'm almost done.

Conan looked at the upper-left part of the monitor that displayed each of the _Sunflowers_ viewing room. The third, fourth, and sixth were already evacuated safely as the first and the seventh were being loaded into the shooter. The second and the fifth, however, remained as they were.

"Got it, let's go kid."

Just as Gotou turned around, flames began to spout down from the ceiling.

Gotou took Conan's hand and lead him towards the door. All at once the flames burst forth causing a part of the ceiling to come crumbling down.

* * *

Yeah, um stopping here for now. Got like 30-40 ages left still…sigh. But at least there will be lots of sweet action coming up! And a really long dialogue part as Conan will have to verbally corner the bad guy and what not.

So who do you thing is the black shadow person thing?

Alas history repeats itself with fire and burnable paintings. How will the Sunflowers make it out this time? It was a little weird translating Azuma Kouichi's reasons for wanting to destroy the painting. The way he talked about it was like the painting had thoughts and feelings….which kinda makes sense in Japanese since pronouns aren't really used, but felt too off to translate it that way exactly in English.

Speaking of which, isn't Azuma Kouji's grandfather a little suspicious? I mean, he and that Umeno chick clearly had something going on, but Kiyosuke then died, yet he had children still…and judging by how the story is told, Kouji and Kouichi are definitely not related to Umeno. Plus I asked one of my friends about it and she confirmed that it's very unlikely that a carpenter and the daughter of a rich merchant coulda been together. Forbidden romance from afar though…sure, but was it like one sided on the girl's part? I mean, if not then Kiyosuke was cheating on his wife or something? _ so confused.


	10. Chapter 9, 2nd half

Almost final chapter! I'm only three weeks behind schedule! And some of you have already been able to see the movie! I fail! But Im happy I actually completed this And actually I wrote this for some of my friends and actually stopped sending it to them after the second chapter cuz I forgot whoooooops.

 **Translator's Notes:** since this is way overdue, it's kinda rushed. I looked it over for errors. There are still errors and unclear parts. Sorry.

Also this chapter is longer than the last. Together they make over 15,000 words, which is about half the book lol.

* * *

 **9.2**

From the exhibition room there was a small passageway that lead to the elevator in the back. Fire was already shooting up in various places in the rooms and hallways with the smoke rising to the ceiling.

Ran was waiting in front of the elevator when she saw Kogoro, Keiko, Ishimine, and Kumiko come running forward.

"Everyone this way!" she called.

 **[174-175]**

"We're here already, get on the elevator!" Kogoro ushered his daughter.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside as Conan and Gotou appeared from a different hallway.

"Conan-kun, hurry up!"

The two jumped into the elevator just as the doors closed and the fire roared after them, flames licking at the doors.

###

Inside the rising elevator, Gotou put both his hands on his knees and was breathing heavily. Jirokichi put a hand on his back and gave a look around at everyone.

"Is everyone okay? No one hurt?"

"Yes, we all seem to be fine."

Kumiko answered. Ran looked at Conan.

"Conan-kun are you okay?"

"Yeah, more importantly," he turned to the oldest man, "Jirokichi-ojisan will the _Sunflowers_ be okay?"

"There's a set up so that if any danger threatens the exhibition rooms then the safety mechanism will automatically activate," he explained.

Gotou straightened himself as Jirokichi continued.

"Don't worry, the program was working properly. If there are any tremors or excessive heat sensed near the paintings, then they will be encased in a water and fire-proof container, protecting them from any danger. Furthermore, the rail-shooter is hydrologically powered to send the cases to the surface, so there is no way they will get stuck inside the building."

"But, I thought I saw that the second and fifth paintings were…"

Conan started to say, then Kumiko knelt down next to him.

"It's okay, boy, the _Sunflowers_ have already made it to the safe-house above ground."

 _But there's no mistaking it…I'm sure that there were two paintings that were left behind…._

Conan reflected back on when he left the security room and what was shown on the monitors. He was sure he saw that the second and fifth _Sunflowers_ were still stuck inside the walls.

 _If we don't act soon then the second and fifth_ Sunflowers _will be burned to ashes….._

###

The flames and smoke continued to spread from the tube hallways into the viewing room. They were currently closing in on the fifth _Sunflowers_ exhibition. In the midst of sparks, the fifth _Sunflowers_ made some guttering sounds and shook a little from where it was hanging on the wall. There was a pole stuck in the space between the painting and wall, preventing the water and fire-proof case from being taken back into the shooter and sent down the railing system to safety.

Just then, someone kicked the pole, knocking it loose. It clanged loudly as it fell to floor, successfully allowing the case to be sucked back and taken to the safe-house.

###

Everyone got off the elevator, covering their faces from the smoke. They left from the back exit reserved for the transport trucks and made their way outside. There were still a large number of people on the grounds who were looking with unease at the building that was emitting black smoke.

 **[176-177]**

As Kogoro was running, he looked up to see a single helicopter circling in the sky overhead.

"Hey, isn't that a Tokyo Metropolitan Police helicopter?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'd called Megure. Alright, we should head over there too."

Nakamori said as he and Kogoro ran over towards the landing area. Ran stopped in her tracks and looked around. She couldn't seem to find Conan, who had gotten off the elevator with them.

Feeling uneasy, she turned around and headed back toward the smoking building.

###

"Dammit!" Shinichi cursed as he continued to try desperately to free the pole that was stuck in between the wall and the second _Sunflowers._ Just like with the fifth one, the pole prevented the painting from being taken back to safety. However unlike with the other one, this pole wasn't budging. Shinichi was breathing heavily as more debris fell down from behind him. The room was completely filled with smoke and the flames were closing in as well.

"This is bad. If this thing doesn't give soon then the fire won't be getting just the _Sunflowers_ , but me along with it."

Suppressing his panic, Shinichi clenched his fist and gave the pole a good knock before pulling at it again.

"KID!"

At suddenly having his name called, he turned around to see Conan dashing into the exhibit from the hallway.

"You! You came back!?"

"More importantly, what about the other one? Is the fifth _Sunflowers_ alright!?"

"Yeah, I was able to pull out the stopper quickly for that one. This one here, however, is stuck in some weird place…"

KID, who was currently disguised as Shinichi, once again went back to trying to wiggle the pole free.

"If we don't hurry, the painting will start to melt inside there….." he said.

"KID, move!" warned Conan.

KID turned around, "Ah!" he exclaimed as he saw a knelt down Conan, turning the dial on his super-powered shoes.

"Y-You idiot stop it! This is the _Sunflowers!_ This is humanity's treasure you know!"

Conan stood up, pressing the button on his belt to let loose a soccer ball. Pulling his leg back, his kicked at the ball on the floor with all his might. The ball shot through the air, curving a bit from the wind caused by the flames and nearly grazing KID as it smashed into the wall.

KID barely managed to dodge the ball, covering his head on the ground as debris from the smashed wall fell around him.

"Did it work?" Conan asked.

"Ow-ow-ow…you punk, you were aiming for me weren't you?" KID accused.

 **[178-179]**

"This isn't the time to be saying that," Conan admonished.

Conan ran forward to look at the wall holding the painting. The wall gave way a bit where the soccer ball had hit it, but unfortunately the pole still wouldn't budge.

"It didn't work."

"Dammit…."

"That old guy, just how strong did he make this?"

As KID was saying this, from behind him came a voice, "Conan-kun!?" Surprised, KID and Conan both turned around.

"Shinichi….!?"

Ran entered from the hallway, her eyes widening as she saw KID disguised as Shinichi. KID and Conan shared a look. As though coming to a mutual agreement, they both nodded at each other.

"As I thought you were here too. Are you listening? We have to hurry and get out of here! It's too dangerous!"

Ran came running towards them, avoiding some falling debris.

"Ran-neechan" "Ran!"

Both KID and Conan called out at the same time.

"Lend us your strength!" "We need your power!"

"Huh…What are you guys talking about!?"

Ran blinked, surprised.

"The _Sunflowers_ is stuck in here!"

"To get it out, we have to break the wall!"

"But that's impossible!" she protested.

She looked around seeing more pieces of the place crumble. From behind them another part of the ceiling fell through. The fire was steadily closing in on the _Sunflowers._

"If it's you, then it's possible…." Shinichi said.

"…Fine then. I'll give it a try," Ran finally gave in, "Shinichi, Conan, stand back."

The two backed away as Ran clenched her fist. She closed her eyes and let out a breath.

"Go for it!" "Ran!" the two boys cheered her on.

In an instant her eyes popped open and she pulled back her fist. "Haaaa!" she cried out punching with all her might into the part of the wall that Conan's soccer ball had chipped away at. As more rocks crumbled away a bit, Ran pulled back her fist, then spun her body around and gave a sound kick at the pole. The pole was flipped away from the wall, sticking itself into the ceiling and dragging the other poles that had been attached to it by a belt as well.

The _Sunflowers_ was sucked back into the wall, becoming inserted into the water and fire-proof case before descending down the rail.

"Alright!"

"I did it!"

 **[180-181]**

In her joy, Ran hugged KID, earning a glare from Conan.

"Hey-Ran hold on a second there~"

As KID tried to gently pry her away, the pole fell from the ceiling. Rather than the other poles attached by the belt falling with it, a good chunk of the ceiling itself crumbled down instead, causing the fire to spread out and block the exits.

"What are we gonna do? The hallway is….!"

"It'll be alright, stand back"

KID pushed Ran back a bit, taking out the wireless communicator from his pocket and holding it up to his mouth.

"Jii-chan, can you hear me?"

###

In the skies above the museum was a hovering helicopter that carried Megure, who was repeating an announcement.

" _Everyone please calmly make your way down to the parking lot area below. I repeat:…"_

The guests who were standing on the grounds began to make their way toward the very long path that lead from the museum area to the parking lot downhill from the cliffs. Kogoro, Nakamori and the others stood on the observation deck about halfway down to help guide the mass of people.

"Please calmly proceed forward. There is no danger!" they called out.

"Understood."

Standing a bit away from the others was Gotou. He lowered his hand from his ear and headed for the corner of the observation deck. At the end of the railing was a giant pipe that connected to the water tank at the top of the cliff. Gotou put his hands on the railing and looked up towards the cliff area while pulling out a remote controller from his breast pocket and pressing a switch.

###

On the sides of the water tank, small bombs were set. The light on them changed from green to red, initiating a gigantic BOOOM as they blew up. An attaché case that had been floating inside the tank was suddenly swept away by large amounts of water.

###

Ran looked with unease at the fires closing in on them. KID suddenly wrapped his arms around her.

"Ran! Hold on tightly. Do not let go under any circumstance!" He warned.

There was a rumbling noise coming from above them. _No way…_ thought Conan, looking up at the ceiling. Then all at once water came crashing down on them from above, swallowing Conan and the others. Caught in the heavy current, they were swept through into the tube hallways.

###

From the side of the cliff where the museum stood came a loud DOOOOOON sound as a flood of water suddenly burst through. Kogoro and the others looked up in surprised from the edge of the observations deck.

"Wh-what!?"

"It seems that the water was released from the water tank somehow…" Jirokichi speculated.

"Yeah," Kogoro nodded at him.

 **[182-183]**

"In other words, don't you think the fire's been extinguished?"

Right then Genta and the others came running towards the men. "Oi!" they shouted. Now that Kogoro, Nakamori, Jirokichi, Sonoko, Charlie, and the five curators were all gathered, they began to look about them.

"Where's Conan?"

"Huh? He's not here?"

"You mean he's not with you guys?"

At being asked by the kids, Sonoko gave a huff and looked around her.

"Speaking of which, Ran's not here either…."

"Jeez, where the heck did those guys go to at a time like this?"

Kogoro grumbled, continuing to scan the area. Sonoko hurriedly pulled out her phone to call Ran.

"I thought that they were right behind us up until a moment ago…."

"Her phone's not connecting either. Ojisan, they might've gone on down ahead of us so I'm gonna go take a look." Sonoko announced.

"Alright, good luck," her uncle said.

Sonoko took off at a trot with the kids following her. Haibara stayed behind with a contemplative look on her face as she stared up at the museum grounds.

 _Kudou-kun, you couldn't be…._

###

Having been washed into the tube hallway, Conan and KID stuck their heads out above the water, hanging on to the edge of the hallway.

"Are you alright, detective?" asked KID.

"More importantly, how's Ran!?" Conan asked.

Said girl's body was limp in KID's arms.

"Ran! Hang in there!" Conan cried.

"She's fine. She just swallowed some water and passed out."

KID put a hand to her face as she began to cough out some of the water. Conan put a hand to his chest and breathed a sigh of relief before reaching over to brush away a strand of her hair that was stuck to the unconscious girl's face.

###

The water sprouting forcefully from the cliff's side finally began to weaken.

"Hey, look! The water flow is coming to a stop!"

Kogoro pointed towards the lake. Jirokichi leaned over the railing to get a good look.

"The water from the tank is almost done emptying out. I'm worried about the _Sunflowers_. Let's go take a look!"

Jirokichi rushed forward. Kogoro, Nakamori, and the five curators quickly followed after him.

###

 **[184-185]**

The water was thinning out from where Conan and KID were as well. It had lowered to about knee level. Kid and Conan climbed out of the water onto the flower-bed stands that had hosted the decorative sunflowers, pulling the unconscious Ran up with them.

"You- so you were aware of the culprit's plan?"

Conan asked to which KID replied with an affirmative "Ah," as he picked up Ran with both arms.

"I knew that if the line of sunflowers in the hallway were meant to be a fuse for fire, then the tubed hallway would make a good water drain to put it out."

"In other words, the culprit is the one who suggested to put a bunch of sunflowers in the tube…"

Conan pulled out his glasses from his pocket. Kid grinned.

"Yep, you finally seemed to have figured out who it is. – Now, it's time to get out of here. "

KID jumped down from the flower bed and pushed his way through the water. Conan followed after him.

"Hey! How are you planning to get us out of here?"

"If we follow the tube up then it will lead us to the topmost floor closest to the exits. We may then be able to climb through the elevator shaft."

"And so what was your original plan?"

Conan asked. KID turned his head and gave him a look.

"Your original plan for escape. It's you we're talking about so there's no way you didn't have one."

"In the back of the limestone cave I've prepared an exit to which I could easily fly to. But with this girl and you there's most likely no way to reach it."

"KID…."

Conan was honestly grateful that KID didn't abandon them.

By the sixth level, most of the water had drained away leaving sunflowers and debris scattered across the floor. In front of them was the attaché case, suspended in the air by poles that stuck out diagonally and embedded themselves in the sides of the tube.

"By the way, if you knew about the culprit's plan ahead of time, why didn't you try to stop it beforehand?"

"I knew the criminal's plan because I was able to steal the blueprints and data from their computer, but there was still a possibility of there being an accomplice. Also when I tried to stop the blackout, I was found by Inspector Charlie who chased me around before I could do anything. If _somebody_ had solved the riddle and told the man a bit earlier, then something could possibly have been done about the situation, but…"

Conan remembered the KID card he'd given to Kogoro, and grimaced.

"…Well, _sorry_ about that _._ "

"Wait right here a moment. I'm gonna get set up to get out of here."

KID set Ran against the edge of wall of the hallway. He went up to the attaché case and pressed a button. There was a small box on the case from which the four poles protruded. The light on the box went from green to red, releasing the case with a click.

 **[186-187]**

"I'm gonna go see if we can't get out of here through the elevator shaft up ahead. During that time, why don't you catch that criminal?"

KID took a spare wireless communicator from the attaché case on the ground. He threw it towards Conan.

"Got it."

"It'd be such a pain if they tried any more cheap tricks and all."

Conan put the communicator device in his ear. KID grabbed his blazer with one hand and forcefully pulled it off. He was returned to his traditional pure white suit, mantle, and monocle as he put on his silk hat.

"Well then, I leave it to you."

KID leaped up and climbed around the small mountain of stones. Leaning against the hallway wall, Ran mumbled in her sleep. "Shin…"

"Wait for me, Ran."

Conan stepped away a bit from the girl, and took out his voice-changing necktie.

###

Climbing his way around mountains of rubble, KID came closer to the elevator. Through the half-opened door he peaked up the elevator shaft. The wire had broken and was swaying lightly and there were bits of broken wall from which water was trickling down. From the darkness he could hear a steely grating sound.

"This isn't good…..from the time it took to extinguish the flames, the air pressure in here has dropped more than I thought. If we don't get out of here quickly, this entire place is gonna collapse…."

###

Jirokichi and the others were in front of a stone wall near the entrance of the museum. There was a panel that was camouflage inside the rock. Jirokichi opened it and punched in some numbers. A part of the wall rose and the shutter inside opened to the group. Beyond the shutter was another door to an iron-barred grate that was reinforced with glass. Natsumi and Kumiko ran to either side of it to pull it open.

In a room that was longer than it was wide marked the end of the railing system that carried the water and fire-proof _Sunflowers_ cases.

"Yes! The _Sunflowers_ are safe!"

Kumiko ran up to the cases and started counting them.

"One, two, three, four, five, six…that's strange, there are only six here!"

"What!?"

Natsumi also began to count the cases.

"She's right, we're missing one!"

"But how can that be!?"

Jirokichi went to the iron door on the other side of the rails. He operated the panel next to it which displayed the times that each of the paintings arrived inside the safe. Only the time for the second _Sunflowers_ was not shown.

 **[188-189]**

"The second _Sunflowers…Ashiya's Sunflowers_ hasn't arrived!"

"Wha-!?" The group, as one, exclaimed. Sweat trickled down Jirokichi's forehead.

"Why!? Why only the _Ashiya's Sunflowers….?"_

Suddenly through the wireless communicators, a voice was heard. " _Please be at ease_."

"! That voice is….Kudou Shinichi!?"

Everyone put a hand to the device in their ears. That voice was of course Conan using the voice-changing necktie.

" _You_ again! You're such a meddler!"

Kogoro shouted irritably.

" _Now now, don't get so upset and listen. After all, I managed to protect the fifth_ Sunflowers _and the_ Ashiya'sSunflowers _from the traitor, Judah, who is still in your midst."_

Jirokichi's eyes shot open at Conan's words.

"So there _was_ a traitor after all…."

" _Yes, but don't worry, I know their identity."_

Both Kogoro and Nakamori frowned at this.

"What are you saying at this point in time?"

"That's right, we've already taken Azuma Kouji into custody."

" _I'm afraid that Azuma-san was not the traitor."_

Although everyone else seemed to be surprised, Charlie muttered "That's the truth."

"Azuma Kouji carried no motive to have the _Sunflowers_ destroyed," Charlie explained.

There was no way, after all, that Azuma would allow the painting his grandfather died protecting to be destroyed.

Charlie repositioned his glasses and gave everyone a look.

"Also, when the sunflowers had begun to burn, Azuma was speaking with you all wasn't here. I think we ought to listen to the boy," he pointed out.

"Yes."

Jirokichi nodded, but Kumiko jumped in, "I don't think there's any need for that."

"There shouldn't be any traitor amongst us," she explained.

"Indeed. Everyone here is our comrade who did their best to protect the _Sunflowers."_

Ishimine agreed, to which Keiko nodded as well, "That's right."

"The one who initially said there was a traitor was Kaitou KID….it'd be stranger for us to believe the words of that thief."

"That's right! Right now we should be celebrating that the _Sunflowers_ are safe!"

Natsumi exclaimed, looking at Jirokichi.

" _Are you sure about that, Miyadai Natsumi-san? Especially after you went through all that trouble to light those sunflowers on fire…."_

 **[190-191]**

"Wh-what did you say!?"

Natsumi directed her gaze upwards, as though she suddenly grew tired for no reason.

" _Your original goal was to burn the_ Ashiya'sSunflowers _and the fifth_ Sunflowers _. In fact, you've been trying to destroy the second_ Sunflowers _since the very beginning."_

"Don't say such ridiculous things! Why would I, of all people-"

" _Very well then, let's go through this piece by piece."_

Everyone casted their gaze upon Natsumi, who was looking a little shook up.

" _Because of the ruckus that Kaitou KID caused at the auction hall, the security around the_ Sunflowers _had been increased, so you could no longer make a move against it….So you gave up on destroying it while it was in America. Instead you aimed for when it was being transported to Japan. You bribed a worker to attach a bomb to a door near the plane's hanger. However, once again KID managed to protect the painting. So then you decided to change your target from the second to the fifth_ Sunflowers instead…"

Natusmi's expression gradually became more and more unreadable as Conan continued stating his theory.

" _Once again KID just managed to see through your plan and thus sent a notice to the Mouri Detective Agency. Having already been undermined by KID twice, you sought to get one step ahead of him for once and placed the notice on the other side of the wooden lid at the museum when they were in the middle of preparing to move it. Your plan was to have it transferred to your laboratory…."_

"Are you saying that KID played the devil's advocate in order to protect the paintings?"

Nakamori put forth. Kogoro raised an eyebrow at his words as Natsumi shouted out, "That's a lie!"

"You're just making this all up!" she accused.

"That's exactly right," Keiko said to give her support to her friend.

"Natsumi loves Van Gogh's _Sunflowers_ more than anyone. There's no way she'd ever do such a thing."

Kumiko, standing across from where Natsumi was gripping the rail nodded, "Yes," in her agreement.

"In any case, why would there be a need to destroy only the second _Sunflowers?_ Your amateurish theory has no backing to it whatsoever."

" _That's true….I do not yet know why she would aim to destroy only the second_ Sunflowers."

"Such a disappointing detective show…"

Kumiko spat, looking unamused.

" _Well, as for the reason I'm sure we can hear about that from Natsumi herself in just a moment. Now, let's continue to the core of the matter. Natsumi-san, I've heard that it was you who suggested decorating the Lake Rock's tubed hallways with sunflowers, is that right?"_

Being a little self-conscious of everyone around her, she answered, "Y-yes."

" _You took advantage of your position as an appraiser, using turpentine, a chemical that is used often for the restoration of paintings, and poured it into the sunflowers that stretched all the way from the top floor; using them as an ignitor for the fire.…"_

"That just means that the culprit took advantage of my idea, that's all! Please stop trying to treat people like criminals based off of some vague accusations!"

 **[192-193]**

Natsumi waved her right hand as if to brush away any doubt that was cast on to her. However Keiko, Kumiko, and Ishimine had begun to look at her uneasily.

" _I see…truth be told I was hoping that you'd turn yourself in…..if you require more solid proof, I can show you later. That is, the data that has your detailed plan to destroy the second_ Sunflowers _that's still on your computer."_

Until he said that, Natsumi's facial expression had been serious. Now, however, she let out a surrendering huff, the corners of her mouth twitching up.

"It seems that there is no longer any way for me to blow this over…"

"You, in order to destroy the second and fifth _Sunflowers,_ you joined my team then!?"

Jirokichi walked towards her. "That's right," Natsumi said harshly.

"However, because of a meddler called Kaitou KID, things didn't go as planned…"

"And because KID's interference became difficult for you, you decided to burn the entire Lake Rock museum in order to get at the second _Sunflowers…_ " Charlie said.

"Yes," Natsumi admitted, confirming his theory.

"But at first I didn't plan for it to become such a calamity. I was just going to use the black out to take care of the second and fifth _Sunflowers_ and it was all supposed to end there….but in addition to KID the security guards were also getting in the way…."

"But how were you planning to take care of them? If you so much as touched them, the safety system woud've immediately kicked in…."

Jirokichi asked, to which Natsumi raised her head and grinned.

"Easy enough if I just splashed it with the inflammable liquid I brought with me.

"Inflammable liquid….!?"

"A dangerous chemical liquid that can naturally ignite a fire even under normal temperatures," she explained.

Charlie recalled the small wrapped box that was sent to Jirokichi and had suddenly burst into flames.

"Is it the same chemical you used when you tried to murder Consult Suzuki?"

"What!? Something like that happened?"

Nakamori's eyes widened. "Yes," Charlie confirmed, nodding at him.

"If we made a big deal out of it, the exhibition would have been canceled, so we held back on informing you."

"So you are the one who tried to kill me then…."

Jirokichi and Kumiko both looked at Natsumi with saddened eyes. Kogoro thought about it for a moment. "I see," he said.

"If the sponsor were to pass away, then the opening would have been delayed or the exhibition would have possibly been canceled altogether," he thought aloud.

"But, why?"

 **[194-195]**

Ishimine and Keiko looked up with almost painful expressions of comprehension.

"If this fire or the plane explosion had gone poorly, you yourself could've died, Natsumi!"

"I…I just love the _Sunflowers_ that much…."

Natsumi clenched her fist she held in front of her chest, looking downwards.

"Rather than have that _fake_ second painting be exhibited next to Van Gogh's beloved _Sunflowers_ , I'd prefer death."

" _Fake…!?"_

Conan muttered at the same time as Jirokichi asked.

"You're saying that _Ashiya's_ _Sunflowers_ and the fifth are counterfeits?"

"The fifth _Sunflower_ should have been proven to be authentic by the dissertation from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Van Gogh Museum."

"That's right, did you forget? Gogh and Gauguin split the canvas it had been painted on. That, more than anything is proof."

Keiko and Kumiko criticized. Natsumi began to speak in a low voice.

"You know, Van Gogh would take the canvas the paintings were on and separate them from the frame, roll them up, and send them to his little brother Theo. However the fifth _Sunflowers'_ paint, unlike the others, was much thicker ….if it was rolled up, there would have been cracks in the painting. But on the fifth painting, there were no such cracks!"

"There _were_ such cracks on the fifth!"

"And depending on the state of the painting when it dried there are times that it may not crack so much."

Both Kumiko and Ishimine pointed out. "But that's not all!" Natsumi raised her voice.

"Only ' _Ashiya's_ _Sunflowers'_ and the fifth _Sunflowers_ are too big, a size other than 40! And this second _Sunflowers_ varies so slightly in size. Is it not strange that Van Gogh, who had no money, would make a wooden frame that could only be used once?"

"Cut it out already!"

Keiko interjected suddenly.

"It's not as if the fifth _Sunflowers_ was a size 40 from the start right? It was originally a size 30. It was the third owner who added more to the canvas and made it a size 40….You should have been aware of this!"

"There's still other proof. In his letters to Theo. Among them there were no mention of the fifth _Sunflowers_ …..why? Because that painting was never drawn, that's why!"

Voice raised, Natsumi brought her hands up, challenging the curators.

"Miyadai-sensei…"

Keiko put her hands on her hips, giving her a fixed stare.

"It's not like Van Gogh wrote about all of his paintings in those letters."

 **[196-197]**

"Another explanation is that he had already planned to give it to someone."

"Also it might have been because he'd just been admitted to the hospital and couldn't write about it….."

Ishimine and Kumiko put forth one counter argument after another. Natsumi's eyes opened wider and she unsteadily averted her gaze.

" _There is no truth in your words."_

Conan's harsh words cut through to Natsumi.

" _While you said you'd rather die, you set the bomb on the plane to go off right before landing, and during this fire you calculated enough time to make sure that you, yourself, would be able to escape to safety after lighting the fire…."_

"Th-that's…."

" _If you had planned with a true resolve for death, why did you not try to keep KID, who stayed behind in Lake Rock, from putting out the fire!? You're just a petty criminal who thinks and act purely on convenience for your own self. You most definitely don't qualify to be a curator!"_

Not a curator, but a criminal – those words seemed to shock Natsumi, who, struck dumb, could only look down. Nakamori slowly walked up to her.

"To think it had been you the whole time…..put out your hands."

Natsumi resigned herself and obediently held out both her hands.

###

" _Alright, let's go."_

At the sound of handcuffs and Nakamori's voice, Conan let out a breath. Then-

"It seems you've taken care of everything on this end."

KID said from where he had returned on a mountain of rubble.

"Yeah…and on your end? Can we get through?"

"If it were just me, yeah."

"What should we do? Call for help?"

Sitting on the pile, KID slightly shook his head.

"We shouldn't bother. 'Cuz of the fire the air pressure in this limestone cave has dropped drastically. If the rescuers aren't incredibly careful, they'd unwittingly cause another disaster."

KID looked out over at the limestone cave beyond the tubed hallway. Suddenly a large stalagmite that had been knocked back started, bringing others with it.

"Crap!"

KID hurriedly slid down the rubble mountain as water spurt forth here and there from the ceiling, dropping more debris and rocks onto the tubed hallway and building and causing the whole thing to tremor violently.

"Are you okay?" KID asked the kid.

"Yeah," Conan answered while supporting the still unconscious Ran.

"More importantly, about how much longer will this place hold?"

 **[198-199]**

"About as long as 'it's kinda amazing that it's still standing' long. If even a small hole is opened in the roof of this place, the outside air will enter in here all at once and it'll cave in!"

Conan's face contorted at KID's words as he looked at the unconscious Ran.

"KID! If it were only Ran, could you fly out of here?"

"Hey, what kind of stupid-'

"Can you? Can't you? Which one?"

KID saw there was no choice but to answer seriously as the situation demanded it. He let out a small smile.

"Probably. However while avoiding falling rocks with the dropping air pressing, how long I can keep in the air is a different matter."

And right then another giant limestone rock fell from above, allowing light to shine through from the surface. A roaring sound could be heard throughout the cave as air was sucked in and rock after rock crushed though the spiraling tubed hallway-

At seeing the rocks come crushing down towards them, Conan rushed to cover Ran as much as possible. In the next second, the place where they were standing itself crumbled and they were thrown out, free-falling through the cave.

"Raaaaaan!"

Conan cried while falling with the rocks. He grabbed her right hand, pulling her closer to him before flipping himself around to face upwards.

"KIIIIDDD!"

Conan used the momentum to throw Ran towards KID's fluttering mantle. KID caught her with both arms and in that instant opened his hang glider.

"I leave Ran to you-!"

Conan shouted, his form getting smaller and smaller as he continued to fall with the rocks and sunflowers

"Damn him, trying to act all cool- whoa!"

KID quickly dodged some falling rocks while holding Ran, his glider descending rapidly.

While descending at a high speed, Conan released his elastic suspenders. They quite luckily got caught on an extended rod that that had been a part of the hallway. The suspenders released sparks as it slid along the rod, finally coming to a stop at the very tip.

"Ugh….there should still be a way to get out of here for this small body of mine."

Dangling in the air, he pressed a button on the suspenders that were wrapped around his left arm, releasing one side of it.

###

KID dodged rock after rock, barely skimming the surface of the water all the while holding on to Ran. The rocks that fell into the underground lake caused wave after wave to burst up, assaulting his glider.

"Dammit, at this rate we'll crash! Where's the exit!?"

He searched frantically while trying to stay afloat in the air. Finally he spotted a light on the other side of a rock-!

 **[200-201]**

"Is that it!?"

He spun the glider around, quickly shooting his wire gun- of which the wire thrusted through a rock and pulled on the glider. But just then the wings of the glider touched the lake and was about to be swallowed by a wave.

"Go-!" KID cried.

From inside the wave the hang glider sprung forth, shaking off drops of water as all at once it was pulled towards the light-.

###

From the hanging rod, Conan managed to fling himself onto the second-floor section of the tubed hallway. He dashed through the rocks and sunflowers that littered the hallway, the floor seeming like it would crumble at any moment.

 _In this small body of mine, I should be able to enter into that elevator that was reserved for the_ Sunflowers…

From behind him a gigantic rock crashed onto the hallway, causing it to creak as it began to break apart. Conan just barely managed to leap to the exhibition room in time. Right after, a dreadful burst of air pushed after him, causing more debris to fall from the ceiling.

"Dammit~~~!" Conan cursed.

Conan ran through the crumbling room, making his way towards the _Sunflower's_ elevator. Just as he leapt in to it, the ceiling of the exhibition room came down all at once.

He slid down the shaft of the elevator, taking out a light from his pocket and passing the beam over the bottom floor. At the very end of the area the light reflected off of something sparkly. He saw that it was the surface of some water. Conan dropped into that mini-lake, splashing through the water as he trudge his way through. Right in front of him, on the rail, was a big case that had been caught. It was the fire and water-proof case that held the _Ashiya's Sunflowers…_

###

On the observation deck, Sonoko and the children were struck dumb as they watched the water tank that had been surrounded by smoke, crumble down.

"No way…the water tank…."

"We have to hurry and find those two….."

"This looks so bad….."

"Ah! Look!"

Ayumi pointed to an area that was a bit away from the building. From far they could here an ominous zuzuzu sound as cracks formed in the ground and multiple holes opened up. Around one gaping hole, as the ground around it crumbled, a cloud of dirt and dust burst into the air-

From behind them, Haibara stared at the cloud of dust in horror.

 _It can't be….you didn't stay behind in there or anything did you?….Kudou-kun…._

And right then flowing out with the dust she could see a sparkling light.

###

KID burst into the open air with the cloud of dust. He spared a glance behind him at the museum area that had been destroyed by the fire and out a relieved breath.

 **[202-203]**

"That was close. Waaay too close…."

In his arms, Ran began to open her eyes just a bit.

"Uhn….Shinichi….."

She muttered as she looked at KID's face in front of her.

"You came…to save me….."

"Yeah….everything's alright now…" KID said, pretending to be Shinichi.

He smiled for her as she let out an, "Okay…" and cutely smiled herself before closing her eyes once more.

###

Looking at the dust cloud, Haibara suddenly dashed forward. Mitsuhiko called out after her.

"Where are you going, Haibara-san!"

"KID and Ran-san are flying!" she explained.

"What!?"

"Seriously? Let's go take a look!" said Genta.

"Sonoko-oneesan! Ran-oneesan and KID are flying in the sky!"

Ayumi called out to Sonoko. Kogoro and the others who were nearby also turned around.

"Ran and KID-sama!?" cried Sonoko

"Wh-Where!?"

Kogoro glanced around frantically.

Jirokichi and Charlie followed after Sonoko and the others.

###

"Dammit, that way is blocked too."

Conan's head burst forth from the water. From there he climbed up onto a duct space that was to his side.

"There're no more exits….at this rate I'll perish along with the _Sunflowers…._ " he lamented.

Water suddenly burst forth from the ceiling, shaking the duct space. The air pressure was forcing the surface of the wall to give way, letting more and more water spurt forth. The sudden increase in water rose up and swallowed Conan.

###

Water had been streaming from the side of the cliff. Suddenly the side swelled up before exploding in of itself. The surface had been hollowed out into a sphere from which more cracks were forming. The museum grounds at the edge of the cliff and all of its accompanying buildings fell and crashed into the lake below.

"Holy shit….."

KID had landed in the forest and watched as a giant pillar of water rose up as a result of the drowning buildings.

"You _did_ get out of there alright, didn't you? Detective…."

###

 **[204-205]**

Haibara, the kids, and Sonoko had all rushed into the forest. "Ran~!" "Ran-oneesa~n!" they called out while looking for her.

"Ran! Where are you?"

Kogoro shouted out desperately as he rushed around. Then he saw her, on the bank of the lake leaning against a tree.

"Nnn….D….dad…."

Sonoko and the others rushed up to her.

"Ran! Are you hurt!? Are you okay!?" asked Sonoko.

"Yeah….Shinichi came to save me….." Ran explained.

"Huh?"

Sonoko stared at her blankly as Ayumi came up from behind her, "Nuh-uh"

"KID was the one who saved you!" she said.

"Yeah he came all flying in like this on his glider!" Genta gestured.

"Do you not remember?" asked Mitsuhiko.

"Huh…." At the children's words, Ran reflected. "Ah!" suddenly her cheeks went pink. So when she had opened her eyes at that moment, it wasn't Shinich, but KID who had been holding her.

"I see, so I….that wasn't Shinichi, but KID….."

A little apart from them, hiding in the shadow of a tree stood KID, who couldn't help but smile secretly while listening to the conversation.

"And so….what happened to the boy? Where is he?"

Kogoro asked. Ran's eyes opened widely.

"You mean Conan-kun isn't here!?"

"Yeah, the only one who KID was carrying was you."

"That can't be…."

Ran stood up, pale-faced and ran to the water's edge. She looked across the lake to where bits and pieces of the destroyed buildings where sticking out and the huge left-over landslide from the cliff.

"You mean Conan is still…!?"

The kids rushed to stand around her and looked at the once Lake Rock in horror.

"Wha-, no way!?"

"That can't be….!"

Haibara gripped the detective badge in her hand tightly….

 _The detective badge isn't getting through either…..What are you doing, Kudou-kun. Hurry up and come out of there…"_

###

Conan was being suppressed into a small opening between rubble by the large amount of water. Still from here and there in the ceiling came spurts of water rushing down, steadily filling up the space.

 **[206-207]**

"Dammiiiiitttt~~~!"

He cursed, trying his best to get out from there, but his body was completely stuck. Already the water had risen up to his shoulders.

At this rate, forget getting out of there, in just another minute he'd die from drowning.

Conan painfully looked over the mountain of rubble.

 _If I use the soccer ball I could probably push back this slab of stone but there's no way I could keep from being submerged underwater…."_

And just then an idea popped into his head.

 _That's right! The water!_

He moved his head left and right, looking at the places that the water was flowing in.

 _Considering that this much water is coming in means that this place is already under the water in the lake. Which means that if I explode the fireworks ball in here, it will move the rocks enough to put off the balance of air pressure in here which would then push us out all at once into the lake….._

There was no time to debate over the effectiveness of his plan. He pressed the button that was attached to his belt buckle. Within the water, the inflatable ball burst forth, pushing aside the mountain of rubble.

 _Alright! I got out!_

Having slipped out, Conan pushed the ball behind him and swam through the water.

 _Five…four…three…_

Going through the duct space lied the shaft of the elevator for the _Sunflowers_. There he saw the case for _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ that had been separated from the rail and was drifting through the water. Conan grabbed on to it.

… _two…one….zero!_

The inflatable fireworks ball exploded causing colorful light to be let loose along with a strong current that pushed Conan and the _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ forth together-.

###

"Conan-kun~~~`!"

"Cona~~~n!"

The children called out their friend's name while crying and looking frantically around the edge of the lake.

"What are you doing, Conan?"

"Please! Come out from wherever you are, Conan-kun…."

Kogoro, Ran, Sonoko and the others were tensely looking across the lake.

"Dammit, what are you doing?"

From the shadows of the tree, KID unthinkingly stepped forward, stepping on a twig. It made a cracking sound that drew the attention of Charlie, who looked back.

Ayumi, who had been calling out Conan's name continuously, began to cry aloud.

"It-It'll be okay. It's Conan we're talking about so he'll definitely be okay! Definitely….."

 **[208-209]**

Mitsuhiko tried to soothe her, but broke out in tears too as wiped them away with his arm.

"uuuuuuu…..Dont' die, Conaaaaaaaaaaaan~~~~~~~~!"

Genta, too, who had been trying to hold his tears back began to sob. From next to them Ran looked as though she were praying while gazing out over what used to be Lake Rock.

"Please….come out….Conan-kun…"

From the corner of her eyes welled up tears that ran down her cheeks and fell to the ground.

###

The bottom of the lake suddenly sunk down in a spherical shape. There was a big explosion as earth and sand spurt forth. From the midst of the dirt and sand, the _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ case floated upwards. Barely hanging on to it was Conan. Together with the painting, having just escaped the limestone cave, they gradually floated upwards.

###

 _Just a bit more….just a little bit more….._

Having run out of breath, Conan tried to endure. But he finally reached his limit as his breath let loose and his hand let go of the painting-

###

Ran and the kids were looking out at the lake. Just then the surface of the water became disturbed.

"Ah! Something's coming up!"

With a splash, the _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ burst forth.

"It's the _Sunflowers_!"

"Oh! It was safe after all~~~!"

Jirokichi's eyes sparkled as he leaned forward. Ran came closer to the edge.

"That _Sunflowers_ , Conan-kun and I put it in its case! That's why for sure Conan has to be somewhere nearby. Everyone, look around for Conan-kun!"

At hearing Ran's voice, the kids and Haibara ran around the water's edge.

"Cona-n!" "Conan-ku-n!" "Edogawa ku-n!"

They shouted out his name desperately as Ran and Sonoko tried to peer through the water's surface.

"Conan-kun, Where….Conan-kun….Conan-ku-n!"

Ran cried out his name over the lake as the tears poured down her face.

Conan, who'd let go of the _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ , was slowly sinking downwards in the lake, his hand floating weakly in the water.

From far away he could her Ran's voice calling for him.

"R….Ran…."

He opened his eyes slightly.

 **[210-211]**

He heard it. He was sure he heard it. Ran's voice-…

He moved his limp hand to his belt buckle and pressed the switch.

###

The surface of the water rippled and a shadow appeared beneath it. "Ah!" Ayumi shouted, pointing.

"Something's coming up!"

"What? Where!?"

"It's true! On the other side of the picture!"

The shadow grew bigger and bigger and then suddenly a gigantic soccer ball appeared.

"Ah~ Conan-kun~~~~~!"

Pushing the ball away, Conan's face appeared.

"Alright! Conan!" "Conan-ku-n!" "I knew you were okay!"

The children threw up their arms and cried for joy as Sonoko happily hugged Ran.

"Wait right there!"

Plugging his ears, Kogoro dived into the lake.

"Oji-sama, will you be okay?"

Sonoko looked worriedly at the man as from next to her Ran was wiping away her tears.

"Thank God…..Conan-kun….."

"Well done, boy! As expected of my Kid Killer!"

Jirokichi put an arm around Ran and waved at Conan. Haibara smiled quietly.

###

Conan grinned sheepishly at the celebrating group. Kogoro came up from behind him, carrying him out of the water.

"You okay, kid?"

"Uh, yeah."

"You did great protecting the _Sunflowers._ Excellent work."

Kogoro lifted Conan up onto the _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ case that was floating on the water's surface and pushed it towards the bank.

###

KID watched Conan being lifted onto the painting from where he hid in the tree's shadow. He smiled.

"Jeez, making everyone sweat there for a moment…."

Just then from behind him he heard the click of the safety being released from a gun. Glancing behind him, KID saw Charlie pointing the gun at his back. KID humored him and put up both his hands.

"What's this? I see you've found me."

"There's still something I don't understand that I'd like to have you explain to me. How is it that you knew who the culprit was from the start? And why would you, who is supposed to be a thief, go out of your way to protect the _Sunflowers_?"

 **[212-213]**

Without turning around, KID grinned.

"There was a request for me by voice message. They wanted me to steal the second and fifth _Sunflowers,_ " he enlightened.

"I see….being an expert in disguise, I suppose it was no great feat for you to identify the sender by their voice alone."

"As expected, you understand quickly, Inspector Charlie."

"But why was there a need for you to interfere with the culprit's plan? What was in it for you?"

"There is a person who I wanted to show the _Ashiya's Sunflowers_ to no matter what."

"A person you wanted to show?"

Charlie asked, to which KID nodded lightly.

"On that day, in the midst of a fire rampaging from the air raid….The carpenter who held the secret love of a young girl entrusted the _Sunflowers_ to her, right before he was burned to death before her very eyes."

"And why would you know that of something from so long ago?" questioned Charlie.

"I heard it from the man who'd witnessed everything. The worker who had been living in that mansion with them. That girl also happened to be his first love, and he was the one who requested my help. No matter what, he wanted to show her the _Ashiya's Sunflowers….._ "

Standing slightly apart from them was an elderly man with white hair, balding at the top. He was Jii Kounosuke. Next to him was a mask of Gotou's face, fallen to the ground. Sparkling light blue eyes peeked over the old man's glasses in true happiness.

"I see….Now all the mysteries have been solved."

Charlie quietly lowered his gun.

"Are you sure? About not catching me?"

"I'll let you go this time.

KID grinned as Charlie turned around and slowly started to walk away.

"Aren't you just not the kind of guy who can catch me?"

"Well….let's just say that out of consideration for the sorrowful love of the man who requested you, I'm turning a blind eye."

"You know, I think I've misjudged you, Inspector Charlie."

Charlie stopped and turned around, only to find that KID had disappeared. He let out a small smile and continued to walk away.

* * *

Aaaaand in the move he says お互いだ or something which is along the lines of "And I misjudged you" and walks away and KID is seen standing on top of a tree looking out over the forest and Porno Graffiti's "O-! Ribaru!" starts playing and they show a bunch of credits with sunflowers and its all very classy. Best ending song in a while in my opinion.

Aaaaand the after credits scene is in the 10th chapter fyi. It's laaaaame. (cuz I wanted KID hahaha)

###

Comments about the story from my end, thus I expect comments from you too!:

So Charlie turned out to be pretty cool guy after all, much smarter and open-minded towards potential criminals than many real American police are these days...at least he treats KID like human. Many police don't even treat non-terrorists like human...not even innocents like humans... I DIVERSE

ANYWAYS I wanna write a story with him, but considering how much I suck at seeing something through to the end, I doubt it's gonna happen. ;;

AAaaaaand it pisses me off how much Conan steals all the lime-light and still gets the crap beat out of him even though KID got away scratch free. Though when I asked a friend about that they said the producers prolly couldn't harm KID cause he's a guest character from a different series. Hopefully they'll make a KID movie one of these days with Conan as the guest and KID getting all beat up….

Aaaaannd what's with all the KIDx Ran shipping in the movies anyways? As I understand Movies are not canon, so isn't the fact that KID knows who Conan is, and all this KID x Ran stuff gonna start to cause problems for the manga later!?

Aaaaaand what the heck is the fireworks ball? Im supposing it's the same as the 'anywhere ball' the inflatable soccer ball. I mean, that's what it really was in the movie. Im just surprised they referred to it as the fireworks ball 花火ボール

I think if I had the chance to re-do this, I'd go back and make the writing more interesting. Japanese is interesting all by itself, but translated too literally and it becomes redundant and lacking in information when read in English. Plus there are no idioms or sarcastic remarks that English readers tend to see. Or maybe that's just me cuz I realized in this translation that Ran's entire character is based off of imagining Shinichi is everywhere all the time -_-;;

Your thoughts pwease!


	11. Chapter 10

**10**

 **[214-215]**

"Not here! Not here! It's not here!"

Conan and Haibara had returned to the professor's place and was watching the man tear apart the place with a pale face.

"Where? Where did it go? My ticket~~~~~~!"

He shouted while throwing the books from his shelf one by one. Conan and Haibara looked on apathetically.

"Should we tell him the exhibit's been cancelled?"

"If he just watched the news he'd figure it out.

Haibara said coldly. Conan cringed.

"Are you still angry at him for lording it over you and the kids?"

"Not really."

She answered bluntly.

"Considering I've searched this much and it's still not showing up means….it must have been stolen by somebody….."

Agasa-hakase dropped his shoulders in disappointment, tears leaking out of his eyes.

"Who~? Who could've stolen my ticket~~~!"

He looked up towards the heavens, grabbing his hair. On his back was taped a KID card. Conan grinned.

"I see, the mystery has been solved."

He glanced at Haibara, who quickly looked away.

"What? What's with the attitude?"

"It seems that if I look too long you then I will deeply regret my life."

Haibara said, before turning her back on him and walking away. Conan followed after her.

"Oi! What the heck does _that_ mean?"

"I got an advice from a nice old lady."

Haibara recalled the words of the elderly lady she'd met at Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum.

"Where is it~? My ticket~~~!"

Agasa-hakase's cry echoed throughout the house.

 **[The End]**

* * *

FINISHED! YAAAY!

I mean, it only took five months, most of which was spent putting it off, and very very little on editing and making it smooth and readable in English (which is the most important part of translating as it so happens.) Oh well. At least it's finished

Thank you everyone who read this to the end, those who read part-way, and those who read the summary and thought about reading this and decided not to. And special thanks to the reviewers you always make my day! If there's anything else you'd like translated, lemme know and I'll think about it!

BTW After you see the movie, feel free to send a review that has nothing to do with this translation, but everything to do with gushing about the movie and KID goodness! Kyaaaaaaa! ^^^^^^^^^^^^


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